Family Matters
by cartchica89
Summary: The Winchesters: Dean, Sam, and Ace. It's Sam's senior year in high school and as he discovers, it takes more than sharing blood and a birth certificate to make a family real... no matter who might say otherwise. 3rd story in my 'Safe...' series. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! So here's the start of the 3rd story in my 'Safe...' series. I know it's long overdue and I apologize for the wait, I hope this chapter makes up for it! I think the main reason why it took me so long to get finished was because I have a lot of new things planned for Sammy and I wasn't quite sure how or where to start... hopefully, I picked a good place. Also, this story takes place during Sam's senior year at Lawrence High.

For new readers, in order for a lot of this story to make sense, I would recommend that you read the first 2 stories, 'Safe in the Arms of Love' and 'Into the Real World'.

Thanks for checking my story out and I can't wait to hear what all of you have to say! I hope you enjoy it! Thanks again for reading! :)

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Dean smiled as he climbed into the passenger seat of Sam's SUV, the one he'd gotten for his birthday almost two years ago. He breathed deep as a sense of nervousness began to fill him. Dean knew that should today go the way they hoped that it would, a big step in Sam's journey to independence would be accomplished and that made him a bit anxious. It wasn't that he didn't want his brother to develop his own sense of self or his independence, it was just that if Sam passed his driving test today then that would mean that he would be putting his brother's life in the hands of all of the other crazy drivers out there and he wasn't quite sure he could handle that. _This will be good for him_ Dean told himself as he reached over to pat his brother on the back. "Let's get this show on the road."

Sam nodded and took a nervous but excited breath as he turned the key in the ignition and checked his mirrors. A moment later, he began to cautiously pull out of their driveway and then headed in the direction of the Lawrence Department of Motor Vehicles building.

~DW/SW~

"You'll do great." Dean encouraged as he climbed out of the car after Sam had pulled the large car into one of the two testing lanes. _And if you don't pass, then that's okay too_ he thought to himself but he didn't necessarily want to even indicate to his brother that he thought there was a chance of failure as he knew that the kid was probably already thinking that himself.

Sam nodded but Dean could tell that his brother was nervous beyond words. This was their second trip here as the first one had ended in near disaster. Sam had been nervous to start with and his anxiety had only increased when the older, burly man had climbed into the passenger seat. Dean knew his brother had tried to get past his fear of being alone with strange men but in the end, Sam hadn't been able to do it. Looking back, Dean realized that Sam wasn't ready for his license then anyhow, he hadn't been all that confident in his ability or himself. Now though, the kid had a lot more practice under his belt and he hoped that Sam's shyness and dislike of strangers wouldn't deter him. Seeing that the testing person wasn't out there yet, Dean decided to give his brother a quick run through. "Show me your hand signals." He instructed.

Sam bit his lip and then leaned out of the open car window. "Left," He said before he put his arm up and then proceeded to point his arm out straight and then hang it downward to display the signs for straight and a right turn.

Dean smiled. "Good, kay where are your emergency flashers?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sam reached forward and pulled the stock down towards him flashing his lights.

Dean nodded. "Excellent!" He tested Sam on a few other items before the testing person walked out and over to their car. He bid his brother good luck and then walked up to the platform to wait, praying that it would go well. Dean figured that getting his license would not only help Sam in his independence, it would also help to raise his confidence some more. Sam wasn't as shy or withdrawn as he had been three years ago but his brother still wasn't the most outgoing or confident person in the world.

~DW/SW~

Sam smiled nervously at the middle aged woman as she climbed into the passenger seat of his truck. He felt like he had done okay at the signals and he hoped that his actual driving would be passing. It had been beyond embarrassing, no matter what his friends or brother had said when he had had to admit that he hadn't even be able to leave the DMV parking lot last time.

"Start the car please." The woman instructed. "And we're going to make a right out of the driveway okay?"

Sam nodded and cautiously let off the break, hoping he wasn't giving it too much gas for her. Turning his right blinker on, Sam checked to make sure it was clear and pulled out of the driveway.

"Stay on this road and when you get to the second stop sign, turn left." She told him.

Sam swallowed thickly, the atmosphere in the car was tense as he concentrated on the orders she gave him and tried to do his best. He knew he did fine when he was driving with Dean but he guessed that a part of that was due to just how comfortable he was around his brother. Dean never belittled him or made him feel like an idiot, no matter what he did. In the recent weeks though, Sam had also driven with Sean, Mike, and Rachel just to try to get himself used to driving with other people.

Coming to the stop sign, Sam wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and sighed nervously before he turned onto the residential street and dropping his speed to twenty-five miles per hour. Over the next ten minutes, Sam continued to obey the orders he was given driving the car as gently as he could but staying as close to the speed limit as possible.

"Okay, turn down here and then pull back into the parking lot and park in one of the two spots in front of the building please." The woman said in her not unfriendly but certainly not warm tone of voice.

Sam nodded and parked the car in the first spot, putting the parking brake on and then turning the car off. Feeling nervous and unsure of how he had done, Sam kept his gaze forward watched as Dean stood when he saw that they were back. He flashed his brother a small smile, turning his head when the woman began to speak.

"Congratulations, you passed." She said as she handed him back his paperwork.

Sam's eyes widened and he smiled. "I… I did?" He asked, shock coating his voice.

She nodded. "You gotta take it easier around the turns but yes, you passed. You can get your temporary license if you come with me and then an official one will be mailed to you sometime next week."

Sam nodded back and opened the car door, stuffing the keys into the pocket of his jeans.

Dean saw the smile on his brother's face as he and the woman walked towards him. "How'd it go?" He asked with a smile on his face too.

"I passed!" Sam shouted, smiling brightly. "I actually passed!"

Dean nodded as he glanced at the woman, silently asking for any reassurance she could give him that the kid was actually ready for this.

"He's gotta slow down on the turns a little but other than that he did really well." She told him when she saw the proud but excited look on Dean's face.

"Wow, good job kiddo." He said patting his brother on the shoulder and pulling Sam in for a quick hug. _Now just promise me that you won't get yourself killed_ Dean silently thought to himself before he followed his brother and the woman inside the building.

~DW/SW~

A week had passed since Sam had gotten his driver's license and as the kid was still nervous to be on his own, he had only stuck to small trips that were close to home. Dean would have him go to the supermarket to do the grocery shopping or if they ordered take out, sometimes Sam would go pick it up. Dean smiled as he watched Sam pull into the driveway, pausing in his conversation with their new next door neighbor, Layla, a woman who looked to be in her mid-fifties. She had moved in about two months ago and at least from what Dean knew, she was widowed but had two grown children; the youngest being only a year younger than him.

Dean grinned proudly when Sam climbed out of the Explorer and Kate exited from the front passenger seat. Getting his license had done just what Dean had thought it would; it had given his brother a boost in confidence and he was glad to see that positive affect. Sam had hated asking for rides from anyone, always afraid that he would be asking too much or putting the person out but now that Sam had his own license, the kid would smile when he announced that he had somewhere to go. Dean hoped that confidence would help Sam to accept more invitations to go out and do things.

"Hey guys!" He shouted. In a way, he was surprised that his brother's relationship with Kate had lasted this long. The start of the relationship, especially as it became more physical, had been really rocky and hard for Sam to deal with and at times, Sam still had freak outs that he wasn't being or doing what she wanted. Dean knew that Sam and Kate hadn't had sex yet and he kind of doubted that they would, at least not for a while. Hell, Dean was pretty sure that Sam and Kate hadn't even moved passed kissing yet. His brother had had that to a certain degree and he knew Sam wanted a 'real' relationship, one where he actually connected with someone and it wasn't just about what they could get from him or his body. There was also the fact that Sam still felt unsure of himself at times and what it was exactly that he had to offer someone other than just a good time. Unfortunately, Dean also knew that keeping the relationship slow was scaring his brother as Sam worried that Kate would grow bored with him if he didn't put out.

"Hey Dean, hi Layla." Sam smiled as he and Kate walked over to the pair, hands joined.

"Hi Sam." Layla replied while nodding at Kate, not having been introduced to the young girl before.

"Ah Kate, this is our neighbor Layla… Layla, this is my girlfriend, Kate." Sam said, introducing the two and smiling nervously as he did so.

Kate smiled happily when Sam referred to her as his girlfriend and gently squeezed his hand, silently telling him that she approved of the title. "Hi." She replied reaching out with her free right hand to shake hands with Layla.

"It's nice to meet you." Layla responded.

"What are you guys up to today?" Dean asked curiously a moment later.

Sam shrugged. "Don't really know yet… probably just hang out for a while… might take Ace on a walk later. Is that okay or do you ah, want the house?" Sam added suddenly, remembering that Rachel was coming over tonight.

Dean shook his head. "Course you guys can hang out here, you know that." He reassured. He and Rachel were still going out, it had been a little over a year, to be exact. Remembering that he was supposed to pick her up since her car had broken down a few days ago, he checked his watch and saw that he had about a half hour before he had to leave.

"So you guys ready to start school on Monday?" He asked, finding it hard to believe that Sam was going to be a senior in high school this year. It seemed as if the kid had just started being tutored by Mike yesterday.

Kate smiled and nodded. "Oh yeah, I can't wait for Senior prom and Senior week." She answered excitedly.

Dean chuckled as he remembered his own prom. "Yeah, those were some good times. What about you?" He nudged his brother a little, wondering why Sam was so quiet about this topic. Dean thought that his brother would still be described as a quiet kid but instead of it being due to fear and worry, it was just that he was reserved and definitely, more of an observer rather than a participator.

Sam shrugged. "We'll see how the year goes, right?" He asked looking at his brother with what Dean thought was a bit of uncertainty.

_What…?_ Dean asked himself but before he had the chance to voice his question, Sam was turning to Kate.

"You wanna go see what's on?" He asked with the smile back on his face leaving Dean to wonder if he had imagined the unsure look on his brother's face.

Kate nodded. "Yeah sure."

"Alright, are you going to go get Rachel?" Sam asked even as he took a step up the driveway, pulling Kate behind him.

Dean's eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his brother's avoidance but nodded anyways, pulling his keys from his pocket.

"Okay, we'll see you when you get back." Sam said before he tried to hurry away.

"Bye Dean," Kate smiled before she followed after Sam, quickly turning around to say bye to Layla as well. "And it was nice to meet you."

"You too." The woman answered, smiling sweetly at the two teens.

"Sam!" Dean shouted a moment later, glad when Sam paused and turned back to him. "I shouldn't be longer than an hour but if I go to pick up dinner, what do you feel like?"

Sam thought about it for a moment before he shrugged. "You decide… I'm not really hungry tonight."

Dean nodded in response and watched as his brother and Kate entered the front door of their house, all the while trying to make sense of Sam's evasive behavior. _That was weird_ Dean thought to himself but he shook his head and smiled back at their neighbor. "Well, I should get going. Nice talking to you." He said taking a step towards the Impala that was parked a few feet away.

Layla smiled back. "Hopefully, we can talk again soon." She said brightly before she headed towards her mailbox and waved as Dean drove away.

~DW/SW~

It was now around nine-thirty at night and both girls had been dropped off at their respective homes, leaving the house to just Sam, Dean, and Ace once again. "Alright, I'm going to bed." Sam announced as he stood from his seat on the couch. Ace got up from his bed in the corner and wandered down the hall, presumably to fall asleep in Sam's room for the night.

"What? Dude, it's not even ten yet… come on, let's hang out for a while." Dean encouraged as he still hadn't been able to ask his brother what was up earlier today. _Maybe he's just nervous about school starting… he's always anxious when something new happens_ Dean thought, hoping that whatever was on his brother's mind was as simple as that.

Sam looked at Dean and bit his lip. "Ugh, fine but don't be mad at me when I growl at you tomorrow morning!" He huffed.

Dean laughed. "I'll give you some coffee and you'll love me." He argued.

Sam mock-glared at his brother before a smile began to break out on his face. "Make it that vanilla latte I had last week and yeah, I might."

Dean shook his head laughing as he chucked a pillow in his brother's direction. "You are such a girl! Should I leave you the latest '17' magazine with your frou-frou drink too?" He teased affectionately.

Sam pouted, bringing out his puppy dog eyes. "But it tastes really good… better than that sewer sludge you drink." Sam mumbled, continuing to pout.

"Okay, fine, I'll get you your frilly drink now stop with the puppy eyes, you're worse than Ace!" Dean exclaimed groaning when Sam started to laugh.

"Got ya!" He grinned, sitting back on the couch.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Dean grumbled before he turned the volume back up on the show they were watching. _I guess it can't be bugging him that bad_ he thought, missing the way Sam worried his bottom lip nervously.

~DW/SW~

Two days later, Sam sat on the football field, surrounded by his friends as they watched all of the freshmen go by. He could see some of them laughing with their own groups while others were wandering around trying not to look too out of it and lost. He remembered what that was like, to walk through the halls of the high school campus trying to find your way, both physically and socially. It had been unnerving to say the least and he certainly didn't envy the people he was currently watching.

"You okay?" Sam heard and turned to see Kate sitting beside him, gently leaning against his side.

Smiling, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her a little closer. "Yeah, I'm okay… just thinking." He answered.

"About what?" Kate pushed, she could tell that he was distracted by whatever was on his mind and she couldn't figure out if it was a good thing or not.

"Nothing important." Sam said, shrugging off his girlfriend's concern, rolling his eyes when she gave him a pointed look. "I'm okay, I swear." When his friends got concerned, they could be as bad as Dean sometimes.

"Fine, I believe you." Kate smiled. "So, guess what?"

"I don't know what?" He asked, glad that she had let up on trying to figure out what was bugging him. _It isn't that important_ he tried to convince himself even though he knew that his brother would argue differently though he wasn't sure why.

"I heard back from State!" Kate squealed excitedly causing the rest of their group to look over at her.

"You did?" James asked. "Wow, what did they say?" Though with how excited the girl was, he highly doubted that she hadn't gotten in.

"I got early acceptance." She explained. "So long as I keep up my A's and all of that then I've got a place there next year."

"Congrats, I'm really happy for you." Sam smiled sincerely as he hugged Kate. He knew how badly she had wanted to go to the University of Missouri. _Why you would want to leave is beyond me_ Sam thought to himself, hiding his nerves.

"Thanks," Kate smiled back at Sam and returned the hug. She stood so she could hug Bobby and James too as well as Annie, James' new girlfriend. "So, any idea about you guys?" She asked, curious as to where her friends thought they were going to go.

Sam crossed his arms over his chest and listened quietly as his friends explained where they had applied to and which ones mattered the most to them. Silently, he hoped that no one would notice that he hadn't said anything as he had no idea what he would tell them if they asked.

~DW/SW~

"Hey Sammy!" Dean shouted from the living room a couple of days after Sam had started his senior year. He walked into the kitchen and dumped the pile of mail onto the counter, grabbing only the piece he was interested in.

"Yeah Dean?" Sam shouted back, pausing in the hall when he didn't see his brother in the living room.

"Come here, I need you to help me with something?" Dean said, standing up and holding the large, thick envelope in his hand.

"What is it?" Sam asked as he walked out to the living room, tucking his cell phone back into the pocket of his pants.

"Your senior pictures came and I need to send them back soon so you gotta help me pick the one you want." Dean explained as he held up the envelope for his brother to see.

"Oh…" Sam drifted off, not sounding or looking nearly half as excited as Dean had expected him to be.

_What in the world is going on with you?_ Dean asked himself as Sam walked over to him and took a seat on the couch. Dean shook his head, wondering what had gotten into his kid brother that he wasn't excited about almost being done with high school. Dean knew that all of Sam's friends were excited that they were in their last year… hell; he remembered just how excited he and Mike had been. And they had all had a good time in high school. But for his brother, high school had been less than okay for the majority of it. While the past year had been alright, Dean knew that high school was far from being his brother's favorite place._ I thought you'd be ecstatic to be getting out of there_ he thought before he turned his attention back to his brother and the envelope. "Alright, let's see here…" He smiled as he opened the envelope and shook its contents out onto the coffee table.

Seven pictures fell out of the manila envelope and Dean carefully separated them, laying all of them out on the table. "Which one do you like best?" Dean asked a couple of minutes later when Sam had yet to say anything. Without indicating which ones he liked and which ones he didn't as he wanted his brother's honest opinion, Dean carefully separated the glossy pictures into two groups.

Sam shrugged.

"Come on Sam, don't make this be up to only me… this should be your choice too." Dean encouraged, nudging Sam a little with his shoulder.

"I don't even know if I'm going to college… why should this matter so much?" Sam asked him a few minutes later causing a look of absolute shock to appear on his brother's face.

"What the hell do you mean you're not going to college Sam? Why the hell wouldn't you want to go to college?!" Dean asked feeling absolutely stunned. _I guess it does kind of make sense now though _Dean thought. Anytime he had approached the subject or anything close to the end of the year and what happened after, Sam would either clam up or turn the conversation elsewhere. _Well, screw that!_ Dean thought with his mind made up. His kid brother was one of the smartest people he knew, he'd be damned if the kid wasn't getting a college education.

Sam shrugged again. "I… I do want to go… it's just that college is so expensive and it's not like we really have all that much money." Swallowing hard, Sam turned his gaze to his lap. He didn't want to make his brother feel guilty for this, not when Dean had done so much for him already. He figured that if he really tried hard, then maybe he could save up some money and down the road, go to the local junior college or something.

Dean sighed as he ran his hands through his hair. "Sam, trust me, we have enough for you to go to college okay. If you want to go, then I'll find a way to make it work. And we have that money we won from your court case… I put that in a trust fund for you so don't worry, you can go. For sure, you can go Sam."

Sam stared at his big brother. "You… you did?" He asked with surprise in his voice. He had always known that they had received that money but he had never really thought much about it though. It wasn't as if Dean brought it up every time Sam had needed or asked for something and flaunted it in his brother's face by saying 'well, only if we use that money you got from social services' so he had essentially forgotten about it as money hadn't ever really meant safety or acceptance to him. _Should I make him spend that money on my education?_ Sam wondered.

Dean nodded. "Yup, sure did." A little over a year and a half ago, Sam had been awarded some money from social services to pay for the neglect that they had both directly and indirectly caused and been a part of. Though Dean was grateful to have that extra cash and resources, he knew that no amount of money could ever make up for what had been done to Sam… he just hoped that it would help to give something back to the kid.

"Oh…" Sam drifted off again but this time with a thoughtful look on his face. A few minutes later, Dean found out what was on Sam's mind when his brother spoke again. "If we have enough money for me to go to college, then why aren't you going?" He asked. "I mean, you're plenty smart too."

Dean laughed a little at his brother's compliment. "Thanks," He smiled. "But ah, it's okay. I've got the shop to take care of."

"But still…" Sam started, wondering why his brother wanted this so badly for him but not for himself.

"Sammy, it's okay… I went to college, I did." Dean answered with a small, sad smile painted on his face.

"You did… when?" Sam asked, trying to calculate just when his brother would have been able to go to school.

"I was at the end of my third year when my parents died… somebody had to take over the shop and I didn't want anybody else in there… not then, at least." Dean explained, now very thankful for the fact that he had extra help and a second mechanic.

Sam nodded, still biting his lip nervously. _What if I'm not ready?_ _Dean seems to think this will be alright and it's just picking out a picture… it's not like I'm actually packing my bags or anything. _Sam argued with himself even as he pasted a smile onto his face and pointed to one of the pictures. "I like that one." He said as he placed his index finger on the third picture Dean had lain out.

Dean nodded as he picked the picture up and studied it. Sam was smiling brightly and to Dean, it looked a little bit like his brother was care-free in the moment. _You're a kid, you should be carefree_ Dean thought to himself. "Yeah, it's a good shot of you." He agreed as he grabbed the information that told him how to order it and began to fill the papers out all the while wondering why his brother had seemed so surprised at the thought that he would want him to go to school.

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Hey! So, how was that? Was it a good start? I hope so. I promise there's lot more to come. Please let me know what you thought of the chapter, I really do enjoy hearing back from all of you! Thanks again and I will try to get the next chapter posted soon. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys, here's the next chapter. Wow, I can't believe it's been almost two months since I updated... that's so not cool or what I intended to do, sorry :( Blame it on writer's block?

This chapter is dedicated to **doyleshunny** for taking the time to answer all of my questions and prodding me along! Thanks hun, you rock! I hope all of you enjoy the chapter and that you're still willing to read it and leave me a review despite this crazy gap in between chapters. I swear that the next chapter will come sooner, I already have the start of it planned out.

Oh and I just want to say that I do not mean to offend anybody with this chapter. I go to a JC and think it's a lot of fun and a great place to go but with the high school I went to, nobody thought that was any kind of an accomplishment and I used a little bit of that attitude in this chapter. A lot of my classmates are going to places like UCLA, Harvard, Yale, ect. so a JC was considered almost shameful in my little town. That makes us sound really snobby, doesn't it? I promise we're not that bad... lol ;)

Anyways, thanks again guys... now, go enjoy this next part! :)

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"What did you sign up for?" James asked one afternoon as he and Sam sat next to each other in their English class waiting for the bell to ring signaling the end of the day.

Sam glanced over at his friend before glancing back at the clock. Ten minutes were left and then it would be the start of the weekend. A small smile crept up onto Sam's face as he thought about the date he and Kate had planned for the weekend. "Sign up for what?" He asked feeling a little confused and unsure what James was talking about.

"Career day, are we in any of the same rooms?" James explained. Every year, about a month or two after school had started the school dedicated an entire day to different careers. The students got to choose their top three picks and spend about an hour and a half listening to someone from that profession talk about it and answer any questions that any of the students might have. James had signed up for FBI, fire fighter, and US Marine. He wasn't sure that any of those three jobs were things that he might end up actually doing… he just liked the day because it meant less time listening to his teachers drone on about math and history.

"Oh," Sam shrugged slouching down a little in his seat. "I um… I don't know… we haven't gotten the schedules yet." He wasn't quite sure what to make of career day this year. In the past, it had been kind of fun and random but Sam had noticed that this year, the students or at least the ones in his grade were taking it more seriously and it left feeling confused about what he should do.

James watched as Sam fidgeted in his seat. "Well yeah, I know that. I just want to know which ones you were interested in… you haven't mentioned anything." James noted as the bell rang and he and Sam started to pack up their stuff.

Sam paused from stuffing his binder back into his backpack. "I guess I'm still figuring it out." He answered honestly as he had no idea what he could or wanted to do after he received his diploma. _I can't believe I get to graduate!_ Sam thought to himself. When he was being shuffled from house to center and back, graduating high school wasn't something that was really on his mind. His thoughts consisted more of what or who he would have to avoid at this new place if he didn't want to get hurt too badly or where his meals would be coming from.

James nodded, smiling softly. "I think we all are dude." He replied trying to make Sam feel a bit more comfortable… it was easy for him to see that his friend wasn't quite sure what to say on this topic. And knowing Sam as well as he did, he knew that if Sam grew nervous about it then it would affect the rest of his day and that wasn't really something that James wanted to have happen. Besides, it was the truth… he didn't know what the hell he was gonna study either!

~DW/SW~

Later that evening, Dean smiled when Sam walked out of the bathroom dressed in a pair of dark jeans and a green button up. He knew that his brother and Kate had a date planned for tonight and that made him happy. Every time he saw his brother excited to go somewhere, it helped to reassure him that the kid was progressing and with time, Sam's past would be just that… Sam's past. "So, what's the plan for tonight?" He asked as he leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest.

"We're going bowling." Sam replied before he glanced up and pointed a finger in Dean's direction. "Don't laugh, she thinks it's fun."

Dean let out a small chuckle. "I wasn't going to say anything." He said even as he fought the smile that wanted to break out on his face.

"Yeah right," Sam responded, not believing his brother at all. He was glad that Kate liked doing fun, safe activities and wasn't really into going to crazy parties and getting high or drunk. Sam had never been either and he didn't plan on ever letting that happen to him as he knew what could happen if people's inhibitions were lowered. _Wonder if I'll be able to find someone like her again?_ He thought, starting to feel a little sad.

Dean noticed the sudden frown on his brother's face and wondered what had caused it. "How late do you think you'll be?" Dean asked wanting to know if Sam was going to be home before him or not. One of Rachel's friends was playing at a small club in town so he, Mike, and Sean along with their girls were going to go watch her.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know… do you want me to call you if I'm going to be late?" Sam asked.

"Definitely." Dean immediately answered knowing that if Sam wasn't home when he got back from the club and he hadn't heard from him then chances were, he just might end up dying at the age of twenty-three from a heart attack. "Alright, go have fun. I'll see ya later." Dean said smiling at his brother, glad that Sam's weekends consisted of normal teenage things now instead of talking to cops and preparing to testify.

"You too." Sam replied as he grabbed his jacket and then headed out to his Explorer.

Dean stood in the front doorway watching until Sam had turned the corner and he could no longer see him. _Be safe, please kiddo_ he silently prayed before he headed back inside to finish getting ready for his own date.

~DW/SW~

"Hey," Sam smiled softly when Kate climbed into his Explorer. He made sure the car was in park and then leaned over to give her a hug. He was glad when she hugged him back, allowing some of the nervousness he was feeling begin to leave him.

"Hey you," Kate said smiling back at her adorably shy boyfriend. "So, you think you can beat me at bowling?" She asked teasingly.

"I guess we'll just have to find out." He responded glad that she seemed happy to be with him tonight. _Maybe she doesn't want to break up_ he wondered hoping that he was right. About fifteen minutes later, Sam pulled into the parking lot and internally groaned when he noticed that the place looked a little crowded. Crowds and busy places still weren't his favorite places to be.

"Hey, we'll have fun okay," Kate said reaching over to squeeze Sam's knee as she knew that the number of people here might make him uneasy.

Sam nodded as he parked the car feeling a little surprised when Kate touched his knee. It wasn't that it had never happened before… just not often. Sure, the two of them had kissed and made out but Sam was still very hesitant to go much farther beyond that. The only thing he knew was pain and he didn't ever want to cause Kate to experience anything like what he'd been through or for there to be any more in store for himself. Sighing and shaking those thoughts from his head, he held his hand out for Kate to take. "C'mon, let's go." He said beginning to walk towards the large bowling alley, missing the look of concern that Kate threw at him.

~DW/SW~

The following Monday afternoon, Sam sat in a chair in Diane's office waiting for his turn. Letting out a relieved breath when the light dinged letting him know that he could now go in, he stood and walked down the hall. "Hey," He called as he knocked on the open doorway bouncing from one foot to the other. He really wanted, no needed, to talk to her today.

"Hey Sam," Diane smiled as she waved him in. Sam now came to see her once every two weeks and they were hoping to get it to the point where he would be okay stopping treatment though she doubted how soon that goal would realistically be accomplished. Diane knew that with this being his senior year, he would be facing some pretty big changes soon and realized that those could be hard for him to deal with. "How has this week been?" She asked noticing that the teen seemed a bit jumpy this afternoon.

Sam shrugged as he took up his normal seat on her couch.

"What's going on?" Diane asked, sensing Sam's hesitation to say what was on his mind. While Diane was thrilled that Sam had become much more open with her over the past two years and more confident in their client-therapist relationship, she knew he still had several issues he had to work out, mainly self-esteem and abandonment related. His tendency to blame himself for things was slowly but steadily improving and she was hopeful that with time and patience, Sam would be able to work through his other issues as well.

"Next week at school is career day." He started, biting his lip nervously. He had heard all of his friend's selections for which jobs they were interested in hearing more about and while he was curious too, he didn't know which would work out for him. He hadn't grown up being a little kid who played doctor with the plastic kit his parents bought him or imagined rescuing people from burning buildings… it was a little hard to focus on the future when you weren't even sure what was going to happen in the present.

Diane nodded. "That should be interesting." She commented hoping that it would help open some doors for the young teen.

"Yeah," He mumbled before he looked back up at his therapist. "Except that I didn't really know which ones to choose." When they had gotten the list of available professionals saying who would be coming to visit, Sam had just circled the first ones that he saw.

"Well, there are lots of options out there. It can take a while to find the one that appeals the most to you." Dr. Boston encouraged.

Sam nodded. "I just… it feels like everybody else knows exactly what they want to do and where they're going to go and well… I haven't got a clue." That last part wasn't entirely true as Sam knew that he really, really didn't want to leave home. When he heard his classmates and friends talk about their acceptance letters and what they wanted to major in, Sam usually stepped back and tried to be as quiet as possible. He had heard people talk about how only idiots went to the junior college in Lawrence and he had noticed that nobody listed that as the place where they were going. _Once again I'm the freak_ Sam thought to himself. He knew the fact that he wasn't fighting to get away from home was weird to his classmates.

Diane sighed as she realized just how much this was bothering him. Sam kept fidgeting on the couch and biting his lower lip nervously… a nervous habit she hadn't seen him do in a while. "Sam, can I tell you something?" She asked hoping that what she had to say would help to reassure her patient.

After a moment Sam nodded.

"The majority of your classmates probably don't know what they want to do either and even the ones who say they do might end up changing their mind once they actually get there. It's normal to change your major at least once or twice." Diane explained, hoping that she could help Sam feel like he wasn't so alone in this. "And the ones who do go away, it's quite possible that some of them may come back."

Sam looked at her questioningly. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"It's not uncommon for people your age to want to get out from under their parent's thumb. Most think that they are plenty mature to live life on their own and while that is true for some kids, it isn't true for all and sometimes, it takes going away from home to realize that." Dr. Boston answered.

"I know I'm not ready." Sam sniffled, hating the fact that this was bugging him so much. Everybody else seemed to be excited but he, for the life of him, couldn't help but worry. Truth be told, he was terrified about it. The thought of leaving Dean… it wasn't a feeling he liked.

"And that's okay Sam," Dr. Boston reassured. "Plenty of teens stay home the first year or so when they enter college. I have several nieces and nephews who did. Sam, have you talked to Dean about this?"

Sam shook his head. "He's tried to but I didn't want to talk about it so I always changed the subject." He blushed knowing that his tendency to avoid "trigger subjects" was something that he and Dr. Boston had been working on for a while.

Dr. Boston nodded though she was a little frustrated to hear Sam admit to avoiding talking about it when it was obvious he needed to. "What makes you think you can't talk about it?" She asked.

Sam shrugged unsure as to why he felt so nervous about discussing that particular topic with his brother. "I know he wants me to go to college," He answered thinking back to his big brother's reaction when he had asked why it was so important.

"I don't doubt that but do you want to?" She asked as it felt as if Sam's apprehension about career day was leading to something bigger. So far, it looked like she was right.

After a moment Sam nodded. "But like I said… I don't have a clue about what I want to do." He knew he had things he enjoyed but he didn't know if any of them were worth pursuing.

Diane thought for a moment. She knew that most teenagers thought that the prospect of going off to college and joining the real world was scary and yet most kids also got a thrill out of their growing independence. Knowing Sam and his attachment to Dean, she thought that the prospect of that independence might also be what was causing him some anxiety. "What are your friends thinking about doing?" She asked, going back to Sam's friends to try and see if anything he mentioned might sound interesting to Sam himself.

Sam thought for a moment. "Ah, Kate just got accepted to Missouri State." He said with a bit of sadness in his voice. He knew he was going to miss her and was trying to prepare himself for their break-up. He doubted she'd want to do a long distance relationship.

Dr. Boston smiled softly as she knew how much Sam valued her and figured that this was probably very upsetting for the young teen. "I bet she's excited about that."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, she can't wait." He smiled sadly.

"Does she know what she wants to study?" Dr. Boston asked.

Sam blushed, smiling a little now. "She said she wants to go into law and become a prosecutor so she can help kids like me." When Kate had explained to Sam what she wanted to do and why, Sam had felt equally flattered and kind of embarrassed. After a moment, he sighed. "I know I should be happy for her but I really don't want her to leave… and she's not the only one."

"What do you mean?" Diane asked, glad that Sam was talking about this… she had thought that maybe career day was only an initial cover for Sam's upset.

"Bobby just got a scholarship to play basketball for Cal Poly in California so he's gonna be far away too." Sam really didn't like the idea of his group splitting up… he'd never had friends like them before and the idea that they were leaving was incredibly scary to him. "James hasn't decided yet where he's gonna go." He knew that his friend had been accepted to a couple of different colleges, one of them being the University of Kansas. He was keeping his fingers crossed that just maybe James chose that one… it was a hell of a lot closer than some of his other choices.

"What about you? Where would you like to go?" She asked bringing the conversation back to Sam.

Sam lowered his head, shame coloring his cheeks. "I'll probably go to the JC." He mumbled, embarrassment filling him.

Diane noticed Sam's embarrassment about that and wondered why he would feel that way. "Is there something wrong with that?" She asked thinking that their local junior college was quite good.

Sam sighed. "No, I guess not… it's just that well, nobody will admit that they're going there and so I guess if I say I'm going there then I'll be a freak." _Not like that's a shocker_ he silently added.

_Bingo!_ Diane thought as Sam revealed why he was so hesitant about this college thing, or at least one part of it.

Before she could comment though, Sam continued. "I want to go to the JC because it's close to home ya know? I figure I can just live at home and drive to school every day and then drive home." Tears filled Sam's eyes as he chewed his lip worriedly. "And… and I don't think Dean'll mind having me home so it's a good choice, right?" He asked uncertainly.

"If it's something that you feel like you can and need to do Sam, then yeah it's a good choice." She encouraged.

Sam nodded and wiped his damp eyes. "Yeah, you're right."

Dr. Boston didn't think Sam sounded totally convinced.

~DW/SW~

"Hey, um, I'm gonna go get Ace now?" Sam announced the next day as he walked into the garage where Dean was busy lifting weights. Once Dean had realized just how much his brother liked to work out when he was alone, he had taken the initiative to turn a small section of the garage into a mini-gym that they both now used when they needed to blow off steam or just for fun.

Dean set the weights he was using down and wiped the sweat from his brow. "Okay, you got enough gas and money?" He asked already reaching for his wallet that was lying on the workbench nearby.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I filled the tank yesterday and it usually costs about twenty-five bucks and I've got that so I should be good." He explained, glad for once that he didn't have to ask Dean for money. He always felt bad when he did.

"Alright, see ya in a little bit." Dean called as he watched Sam walk out of the garage and down the driveway to where he had parked the black Ford explorer. "Drive safe!" He shouted as Sam climbed into the drivers' seat. Dean never wanted to get a call saying that Sam had been in an accident… the very idea made his heart race. It had been a month since Sam had gotten his license and the kid was doing well but that didn't mean that Dean didn't worry every time Sam buckled up and pulled out of the driveway only relaxing once the kid was safe at home again. He was pretty sure that he might always feel that way no matter how long Sam had had his license.

"I will!" Sam smiled back at his brother, giving Dean a little wave as he pulled out of the driveway.

~DW/SW~

"Hey Sam," Jessie, one of the two groomers greeted Sam when he walked into the small dog and cat grooming salon almost thirteen minutes later.

Sam had been taking Ace to this particular grooming salon for about a year and a half and he liked it. The place was close to home and inexpensive and the people were friendly which helped to put him at ease as he still wasn't a huge fan of meeting new people. He much preferred familiar faces over trying to find new friends. _Guess I'm going to have to get used to that though_ he thought to himself, realizing that with two of his three friends going away to college, it might be a bit like starting over.

"Hey, was he good?" Sam asked, feeling a little nervous… he never wanted Ace to misbehave here or bite one of the groomers. He didn't think he would but still it was a possibility and not one that he wanted to deal with.

"Ya kidding? He's always a good boy!" Jessie exclaimed causing Sam to turn back around. As he waited for them to get Ace for him, Sam stepped back to look at the bulletin board they had pinned to the wall containing local news and events as well as a few job offers, mostly having to do with animals. _Hunh, that might be fun_ Sam thought as he took one of the slips from the local SPCA saying that they needed dog-walkers. _And then I could maybe stop being a mooch too_ he silently added.

A moment later, Tara, the other dog groomer walked out front with Ace on a leash. When Ace saw Sam, he picked his pace up and happily trotted over to his owner.

Sam bent down and rubbed Ace behind the ears. "Hi boy," Sam smiled when his dog's tail began to wag. _At least you didn't get any acceptance letters_ Sam thought.

Jessie opened one of the jars on the counter and fed Ace a dog cookie. "Your daddy thinks you give us trouble… isn't he silly?" The young man asked teasingly.

Sam laughed a little as he took the leash from Tara. "He can be a brat," Sam said, defending himself.

"This teddy bear? I don't think so." Tara replied with a soft smirk on her face.

Sam laughed and smiled a little. "You guys just don't know him well enough," He mumbled as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket. "It's twenty-five bucks right?"

Tara nodded and Sam counted out the money being sure to include a decent sized tip. "Thanks again guys! Bye!" He shouted before he walked outside and let Ace into the backseat of his Explorer ready to head home. He wasn't the type of teen who liked to go on long, aimless drives and was much more inclined to get home as soon as he could after doing whatever small errand he had to do.

~DW/SW~

A few hours later, Sam sat quietly at the kitchen table. He slowly pushed his mashed potatoes around his plate, not really having much of an appetite. "Dean," He paused as he looked up at his brother and then over to Rachel who had been over earlier and ended up staying for dinner.

Noticing that Sam had eaten a very little amount of his dinner, Dean quirked a brow at him as he studied Sam, trying to determine what might be on the kid's mind or if he was getting sick. "What's up?" He asked concerned, feeling Rachel's hand gently squeeze his knee as she silently told him to be patient and not jump to conclusions about what could be wrong. God was she good at keeping him calm!

"What do you think about me getting a job?" Sam asked quietly. All of his friends had jobs and had their own bank accounts but he still had to ask Dean for money anytime he wanted to do something. That wasn't really the problem though since Dean always gave Sam some whenever he asked and sometimes even when he didn't. Sam felt bad always having to ask Dean to give him money considering his brother was the only person in their household who was making an income. Sam highly doubted any job that he got would be enough to help Dean pay the bills but maybe if he wasn't constantly handing Sam twenty dollar bills then it might be something. And besides, maybe this would help him figure out some part of what he'd like to do.

"Doing what?" Dean questioned before he took a drink of his soda.

"Working at the animal shelter." Sam reached into his pocket and pulled the flyer out, handing it over to Dean.

Dean read over the information on the card. _He likes animals and that could be a good starting point with him_ Dean thought hoping that the people at the shelter were nice. "Yeah, it sounds like it could work." He nodded as he handed the card back. "We'll check it out tomorrow." Dean promised and smiling as Sam began to look a little more confident than he had the past couple of days.

* * *

Hey? So how was chapter 2? I hope it was okay and that all of you enjoyed it. Oh, and the next chapter will have much more Sam and Dean interaction, I promise. I just felt like I needed to show some bit of how he is with his friends and girlfriend this time. Thanks and please leave me a review! I'll try to update soon. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys! Here's the next chapter and I hope everybody enjoys it! :D I'm on Spring Break now (finally!) so I'm hoping to get another update of this story done as well as the next chapter of 'Lucky Number Seven' before I go back. We'll see if either one of those actually gets accomplished though ;P

Thanks for continuing to read the story and I hope that you will all leave me a review telling me what you thought! Thanks again and I'll try to update soon. :)

* * *

Sam sat at the desk in Dean's room, waiting for the forms he needed to finish printing. "So, you think that maybe this is something I could do?" He asked feeling a bit nervous seeing as how he'd never gone to apply for a job before. Later that afternoon, he and Dean had plans to go down to the local no-kill animal shelter and see if it would be a good fit for him or not. Sam had no idea if he'd be good enough for them or not but God, he hoped so! He really wanted to prove to himself that there was more that he could do than just lying back and spreading his legs. _You're better than that_ Sam heard Dean's voice tell him calming his nerves slightly.

"For sure," Dean nodded internally sighing when he saw that Sam didn't look so convinced. "Sammy, you've had Ace almost three years… you know how to work with animals." He explained when he saw Sam nervously chewing his bottom lip. Dean really hoped that this would work out because damn, the kid needed some confidence!

Sam bit his lip as he nodded trying to reassure himself that yeah, he could do this job. Seeing that the printer had stopped, he picked the forms up and began to fill them out. The first question asked him how he had heard about this position and he put down that he had seen their flyer at his groomer's. From there, the questions asked him what experience he had with animals, if he had any pets and if so what types, and what he liked to do in his free time. "Can um… can you read over them, tell me if they sound okay?" Sam asked handing the small packet out to his brother.

Dean smiled as he sat down on his bed, beginning to read the forms over. _Walking my dog and hanging out with my big brother and our friends_ Dean noted when he read Sam's response to the free-time question. _Yup, you're a pretty easy kid to entertain_. "It's good Sammy. See you knew what to do." He reassured.

Sam blushed as he took the papers back being careful not to crease them unnecessarily. "Ok, well then I guess we can go now if you want to." Sam knew that in reality, this was something that he could go check out for himself but he wanted Dean to come with him to help him be a little less nervous.

~DW/SW~

Dean pulled the Impala into one of the parking spaces in front of the small building and sent Sam a reassuring smile. "Let's go." He opened his car door and looked out, silently appraising the place. The 'parking lot' was dirt and gravel and there were signs that pointed to the path to the door. They walked past an outside enclosure that was fenced off but through the small spaces, he could see several dogs. The majority of them were smaller or medium sized dogs, nobody near Ace's size that was for sure.

Dean let Sam lead the way into the building, wanting Sam to be the one in charge here. "Hi," A young woman who looked to be in her mid to late twenties greeted them.

"Hi," Sam said, smiling shyly while Dean nodded at her, a friendly smile on his face.

"Are you looking to adopt today?" She asked as she walked from out behind her desk and stopping in front of the two of them.

Sam shook his head. "I um… I saw that you guys were advertising for a dog walker? I was wondering if you were still looking." He bit his lip nervously, hoping that she would say yes.

The woman smiled. "We sure are. I'm Caitlin by the way." She reached out a hand towards Sam.

"I'm Sam and this is my older brother Dean." Sam said as he shook her hand. Dean stepped forward and shook her hand too. As he stepped back, he nudged Sam a little reminding his brother of the forms he'd filled out.

"Oh, here are the forms you guys had." Sam smiled nervously, his hands beginning to shake a little.

"Thanks," Caitlin replied taking the papers from Sam and placing them on her desk. "So you like animals, what's your favorite?" She asked.

"Um… I guess I'd have to say dogs, they're just really loyal and easy to be around." Sam answered even though Dean was the only one who really got why Sam thought that. _People can be loyal too kiddo_ he silently thought.

"Dogs are great and as you can see, we have a lot of them. We tend to only have smaller or medium sized dogs just because of the amount of space we have here." Caitlin walked over to the door and led Sam and Dean to the outside enclosure.

"Where do you get them from?" Dean asked, piping up.

Caitlin turned to look at the handsome older brother. "Normally from overcrowded shelters or if people know of us and that we don't kill any of our animals then they'll bring their pets that they can't care for to us."

"You don't kill any of them?" Sam asked feeling a little surprised at learning that fact.

Caitlin nodded. "The only time we euthanize an animal is if they're suffering and there is no chance for them to get better." She said, a bit of sadness and sympathy in her voice. It was always hard to watch an animal they had be in that much pain.

"Oh," He noted wondering just how many places did that… he figured not many. Sam smiled when a small group of terriers ran up to where he, Dean, and Caitlin were standing. The dogs started to jump up, trying to get his attention. "They're hyper." He observed.

Caitlin smirked. "Very, that's why we need a dog walker. Basically Sam, what we would have you do is walk all of the dogs and exercise them, normally just one or two at a time so that it wouldn't be too hard to handle."

"Where would you have him walk them?" Dean asked, wanting to know the route that Sam would be taking. He had had Sam show him the path that he and Ace always followed just in case if something happened, he'd know where to look and this was no different.

"Just down the street and back, not far," Caitlin answered sensing the underlying protective tone in Dean's voice.

Dean nodded. _I can handle that_ he thought. The SPCA was located on a side street that wasn't too busy so Dean didn't really have to worry about Sam dealing with dogs he didn't really know in heavy traffic. There was a vet's office right next door, down the street was a small clinic and to the right of that was an empty lot. Dean was actually glad that the place wasn't located in a super busy area of town as he knew that his brother preferred staying away from crowds.

"So is walking the dogs the only thing you would have me do?" Sam asked, nervous but also hoping that he would get the job. So far this sounded fun and something that he could handle pretty easily.

"Well, you would also be in charge of cleaning out their areas and making sure that they had fresh food and water and then we would also have you spend some time with the cats we have." Caitlin watched Sam as he observed the dogs that were running around, barking and wrestling playfully with one another.

"Why do some of them have sweaters on?" He asked after a moment, he only thought that prissy people with lots of money did that.

Caitlin laughed a little. "It's to help make them look cuter. We have a high turn-out rate so don't expect to see the same dogs week after week." She informed him knowing that sometimes, getting too attached to the animals was a little bit of a problem.

"Oh, okay." Sam replied. _Well, it's easier to get used to new animals rather than getting used to new people every week_ he thought.

"How often can you work?" Caitlin asked as the small group continued to stand outside. Out of the corner of her eye, Caitlin saw that some people had just come into the shelter but luckily, Laurie, one of their other employees was inside and already had the small families' attention.

"I guess pretty much whenever, I have school until 2:45 everyday… well Monday through Friday and then once every two weeks on Mondays I'm busy from 3:30 to 4:40 but other than that I'm pretty free." Sam shot Dean a look, trying to figure out what his big brother thought of all this. He was comforted a little when his brother nodded encouragingly at him.

"Ok, we can work with that." Caitlin smiled, thinking that Sam might fit in very well here. She was sure that Chris would enjoy having another guy to work with since it was currently mostly women. "Now, what grade are you in?" She asked him.

"I'm a senior at Lawrence high." Sam answered.

"So would you be leaving for college in the fall or…?" Caitlin asked, wanting to know just how long they would have Sam for.

Sam hesitated and bit his lip nervously, ducking Dean's curious gaze. "Actually, I was hoping to stay around here for a while." He said quietly.

Caitlin smiled. "That's good to hear."

Sam's smile returned though he tried not to appear too overeager. "So, does that mean that you want me to work here?" He asked hoping that he wasn't being too forward.

Caitlin nodded. "Yup, the job is yours… if you want it that is."

Sam smiled and nodded. "Yeah, yes… thank you, thanks a lot!" _I can't believe they hired me!_ He thought to himself.

Dean stood to the side, smiling proudly but he figured he'd wait to congratulate the kid after they'd left the shelter. He had mixed feelings about hearing Sam admit that he wanted to stay around home for the beginning of college. Dean was totally fine with that decision… he just wished that Sam had told him that when he asked him about it. To be honest, he wasn't completely sure why Sam had obviously felt like he couldn't tell him that… Dean had thought that Sam knew he could tell his big brother literally anything.

Caitlin smiled at Sam's obvious show of enthusiasm. "It's nice to have someone who's excited to work, would you like to start tomorrow?" She asked the young teen.

Sam smiled brightly. "Tomorrow works," Sam felt extremely excited that Caitlin had decided that he was good enough for the job… now, he just hoped that he didn't screw it up and make her regret hiring him. _You can do this_ he thought trying to encourage himself a little.

~DW/SW~

Dean couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he and Sam drove away from the Lawrence SPCA after confirming that Sam would be there tomorrow to start work at eleven in the morning. "So you like the place, don't you?" He asked, smiling as he observed the fact that Sam's shoulders were a lot less tension filled than they had been on the way there.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, it'll be fun I think. And Caitlin seemed really nice, right?" He responded.

"Yeah she did and I'm sure that the rest of them are plenty nice too." Dean confirmed as he thought over the conversation they'd had with the young woman. The whole time she'd been talking Dean had been watching her, trying to find any hint that she or someone else there would either be a bad influence on his kid brother or might try to hurt Sam in any way. He knew that most would say that he was just being paranoid but with all of the crazy and messed up crap that they had gone through, he couldn't help it. With all of the horrible stuff that Sam had had to deal with in his past, Dean wanted to make sure that nothing like that ever happened ever again to the kid.

They drove in silence for a few minutes, Sam happy to be employed in a job that wasn't degrading or humiliating and Dean proud of his little brother for taking that chance. As he replayed the afternoon in his head, Dean paused when he remembered Sam saying that he wanted to stay local. "So you wanna stay around here for a while?" Dean asked, glad that even if Sam hadn't said it to him he'd finally found out at least a part of what his brother wanted, college wise at least.

The smile faded and Sam turned away from Dean. He'd been hoping that Dean would have just let that go but apparently, he had no such luck. _He's an overprotective mother-hen, what did you expect?_ Sam asked himself knowing that he should have seen this coming.

"Sammy?" Dean asked, wondering why that question made Sam turn away from him. He wasn't angry or anything, just curious.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to live at home a little while longer." Sam whispered hoping that yeah, Dean would be just fine with that. He knew that it was probably a bit late to apply to outside schools and he was hoping that would work in his favor.

Dean nodded, surprised that Sam had thought that it wasn't okay with him. "Of course it is!" He reassured, slowing the car as they pulled up to a red light. "Sammy, why wouldn't it be?"

Sam shrugged. "I figured most kids go away when they leave high school… thought maybe I should too." Sam explained as he fidgeted in his seat.

"Do you want to?" Dean asked, feeling a sudden spike of fear fill him. He wasn't too sure he liked the idea of Sam being far away at college.

Sam shook his head no.

Dean sighed and didn't say anything as he pulled the car over so that he could focus all of his attention on his kid brother. "Sammy," He started as he reached out and put a hand on Sam's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "If you want to stay home and go to the local JC or something then that's totally fine by me kid. And when you're ready, then we'll find you another place you can go." _But it had better be in state_ Dean thought to himself knowing that if Sam did go out of state, then he might as well pack up the Impala and move right along with his kid brother.

Sam swallowed and sniffled, feeling a bit like a weight had been taken off of his shoulders at hearing his brother say that he was okay with him living at home for a while longer. He had always known that Dean would be okay with that but it was really reassuring to hear him say it.

"To be honest, I don't think your big brother's ready for an empty nest quite yet." Dean added remembering his mom's own hesitation at him going away to college. His dad had always jokingly said that he'd waited eighteen years to be able to kick him out but his mom had tried to convince him to go to their local junior college saying that without him there, she wouldn't have any of her own kids to look after anymore and that just didn't feel right. Dean smiled a little as he found himself agreeing with his mom. _I'm not totally ready to let go of him yet either_ Dean thought squeezing Sam's shoulder again.

Sam laughed a little as he dried his eyes. "Yeah, you'd miss having me around too much wouldn't you?"

Dean laughed glad to see that the unsure and hesitant look on his brother's face was gone. "Oh, I don't know… might be nice to not have to watch how long I'm in the shower for or have food that's gonna feed me." He smirked, winking at his brother to let him know that he was only teasing. _Damn straight, I'm gonna miss you_ Dean thought as he realized that at some point, Sam would move out and he really had no idea just how in the bloody hell he was going to deal with that.

~DW/SW~

Later that afternoon, Sam sat in his backyard surrounded by his friends and Ace enjoying what was sure to be one of the last warm afternoons for a while.

"So how'd it go at the shelter?" James asked curiously. Sam had told him how he'd found a possible job opportunity working with animals and James had really hoped that Sam would go for it. It sounded like something that Sam would enjoy and he knew that since Sam would be mostly working with animals, hopefully his friend wouldn't be so nervous.

Sam smiled. "I got it… my first day's tomorrow." He admitted, ducking his head as he blushed.

"Congratulations man, that's awesome!" James and Bobby said in unison, smiling proudly.

Kate smiled too. "I'm jealous, you get to play with cute puppies and kittens as your job while I'm stuck filing papers in a boring office." She had taken a job as an office worker at one of the local law firms to have something to put on her resume as early training.

Sam laughed a little. "Well, you'll just have to come visit me at work then?" He suggested playfully. It wasn't too often when he flirted with her openly but Kate enjoyed it when he did; that much was obvious from the smile and the blush that was on her face.

"I think that'll work just fine," She replied before she leaned in to give Sam a quick kiss. "They're lucky to have you." Kate reassured as she pulled away from him glad that Sam seemed to be in a good mood today. Over the past month or two it had felt a little different between them as Sam had seemed much more nervous and it left her feeling confused. Sure Sam had been nervous at the start of their relationship, hell she had been too but sometimes now, she would catch Sam looking at her with a worried expression on his face and it made her wonder what was going on.

"Thanks," Sam smiled grateful that she seemed to think he'd be good at it. Hopefully, he proved her right.

~DW/SW~

The next morning Dean and Sam sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast before Sam left for his first day of work. "Big day today hunh?" Dean asked proudly. He knew that getting your first job as a teenager was a big step. It was a sign of your growing independence when you made your own money that you could spend almost any way you wanted. Granted, Dean was sure that if he ever found out that his overly shy little brother had spent his hard earned money on booze or something equally as bad for a minor, they'd have to have a serious talk but he highly doubted the chance of that occurring.

Sam smiled back at his brother. "Yeah but I think it'll go well." Just then Ace trotted over to Sam and put his head in his lap. Sam laughed a little as he began to rub Ace behind the ears. "I promise you're not being replaced boy,"

Dean smiled at the interaction. Ace was now three years old and in Dean's opinion, he had done a lot of good for Sam. He helped to keep Sam physically active seeing as how he was a crazily energetic dog who loved his pretty much daily walks but he was also just a constant companion for the kid, offering silent support whenever Sam seemed to be a little blue. "I'll see you this afternoon." Dean said when Sam stood and checked to make sure he had his wallet, sun glasses, and car keys.

Sam nodded. "Wish me luck?" He asked as his nervous began to show.

Dean shook his head. "You don't need it." He reassured as he stood too and walked Sam out to the front door.

Sam nodded, hesitating in the doorway for a moment before he took a deep breath and walked out to his SUV. Dean stood, watching with Ace sitting at his side. "Have fun!" He shouted hoping that Sam would be able to relax and just be himself at the shelter.

~DW/SW~

Sam's hands felt a little shaky as he pulled up to the parking lot of the animal shelter. He sat for a moment after he killed the engine trying to collect himself. He smiled when he saw that Caitlin was apparently working today. _Phew, one sort of familiar face_ he thought relieved that his first day wouldn't be spent with completely new people. Seeing that it was five to eleven, Sam pulled the keys from the ignition and climbed out, his hands beginning to sweat even more.

"Hey Sam," Caitlin smiled when she saw the shaggy haired teen walk into the shelter.

Sam lifted his head and smiled back at her. "Hi," He responded before his gaze fell on the two other people in the room. The woman he had seen briefly yesterday but hadn't been introduced to while the guy was someone he'd never seen before.

"Um, Sam, this is Laurie and that's Chris, our two other employees." Caitlin said as she did the introductions. "Laurie, Chris… meet Sam, our newest member."

Sam blushed self-consciously. He really hoped that everybody here was gonna like him.

The guy, Chris, smiled as he extended a hand toward Sam. "Nice to have you on board… we need some more testosterone around here." He joked. Chris was a tall guy who looked to be maybe a year or two older than Dean and had bright green eyes and short red hair.

Sam smiled a little though he didn't say anything, unsure of how to respond to that. He didn't want to offend either Caitlin or Laurie.

"Please, we're the only womanly interaction you get that isn't telling you to get lost." Laurie interjected, smirking at the fake frown on Chris' face. "Don't let this guy fool ya, we're really nice. I promise." Laurie was a little on the shorter side though Sam couldn't really tell how old she was though he guessed that everybody there except for him was probably the same age or at least close. Laurie had brown curly hair that ended at her shoulders and blue eyes.

Sam nodded. "I ah, yeah you guys seem nice." He said shyly.

Caitlin smiled. "I'm glad we meet your approval." She responded.

_Yeah, hopefully I meet yours. _Sam thought, his nerves returning. _They hired you so apparently you do for now at least. _"What would you like me to do first?" He asked, trying to show some initiative.

"An eager worker, I like that." Laurie commented causing Sam to blush again. He was relieved when nobody mentioned the fact that he blushed so freaking easily.

"Hmm… well, why don't we go see which ones are hyper and would like a walk?" Caitlin suggested.

"Okay," Sam responded almost immediately.

"Great, I'll show you where their leashes and everything is kept and then you can take 'em out." Caitlin explained as Chris and Laurie got back to work.

~DW/SW~

"Hey, how'd it go?" Dean asked later that evening when Sam walked in through the front door. Ace immediately ran over to Sam and began sniffing him like crazy.

Sam laughed a little as he pushed his dogs face away. "It's alright boy, I was just playing with some puppies but I promise I didn't bring any of them home." He told his dog figuring that he'd go take a shower in a few minutes and throw his clothes in the laundry so that his dog could stop freaking out. "It was really fun." Sam said, answering Dean's question with a big smile on his face.

"Good, see I told you it'd be fine." Dean confirmed.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I met Laurie and Chris… they're the two other people who work there and they're both really nice. They had me walk a lot of the dogs and that took a while but it was fun and then I basically just cleaned up where they play and stuff." Sam felt very relieved that he seemed to fit in there and that they liked him.

Dean nodded, happy beyond words to know that Sam's first day of work went well. "Oh, I got these for you… figured we could swing by and go sign you up later this week?" He suggested hoping that Sam would be okay with this.

"What is it?" Sam asked curiously as he took the packet of papers from his brother.

"Admission papers to the local JC." Dean answered taking a seat beside his brother.

"Oh," Sam said, appearing to be a little hesitant.

"What is it?" Dean asked noticing how Sam was looking warily at the packet.

Sam shrugged. "Just nervous, I guess." He answered. "I mean, college… seems… it seems like a really big thing, ya know?"

Dean nodded. "It is big but you can do it." Dean reassured smiling softly at the kid.

"Yeah, just hope I fit in there." He mumbled quietly starting to feel self-conscious again. _Why couldn't they have just stayed home… why did they have to go away_ Sam asked himself. He didn't think that it was meant as anything against him as he was pretty sure that his friends genuinely liked him but still, it was going to be a hard adjustment that was for sure.

"You will," Dean had the confidence that Sam would do well at their local school. He knew that college was different than high school since it didn't have stupid clichés or any of that annoying drama and that would go a long way, he felt, in helping Sam to relax. "College is… there's a bigger diversity of people, it's better than high school."

Sam smirked. "God, I hope so." He was beyond ready to be done with that place and he felt a good bit sorry for the people who were just starting.

Dean let out a little chuckle. "You and me both kiddo, you and me both."

Sam smiled at the nickname. He knew that some teens might complain that at eighteen years old they were a bit old to be called 'kiddo' but he liked it. It was a term of affection and it made him smile that even as he got older, he was still Dean Winchester's little brother. Sam and Dean settled into an easy silence for the next few minutes until the peacefulness was shattered by the sudden ringing of Dean's cell phone.

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Hey! So how was the chapter? I hope you liked it and I can't wait to hear back from you! Thanks for reading! It's very much appreciated. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Hey guys! Here's the next chapter and I hope that everybody likes it. I'm not totally sure that I like the flow of it so hopefully it did work and it's just me being too critical. Also, hopefully it's not too confusing as more of Mike's family members are included in this chapter. If it is, tell me and I'll try to explain the relationships as best I can.

Sorry for the way too long wait too! I've been swamped with work and school but thank God there's only 4 weeks left :D I'm so sick of school right now, it's not even funny. Anyways, thanks for continuing to read the story and I hope that you'll like it enoough to leave me a note! Enjoy :)

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Dean yanked his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the caller ID, smiling when he saw 'Mike' on the screen. "Hey man, what's up?" Dean asked as he leaned back against the couch cushions only to shoot back up, his face draining of any color almost instantly. "Okay, man, just relax. We're on our way, we'll meet you there." A moment later, Dean hung the phone up and headed towards the front door calling for Sam to get in the car. "Come on, we have to hurry!" Dean ordered barely remembering to lock the front door as his mind traveled a mile a minute.

"What's going on?" Sam asked as he shut the Impala's passenger door, feeling a bit fearful. He didn't like the look on Dean's face and knowing that his brother had just spoken to one of their best friends, he prayed that everything was okay.

Dean swallowed thickly before he answered, tears pricking his eyes. _He has to be alright_ he silently pleaded with whoever was up there and willing to listen. "That was Mike. His… his dad's been rushed to the hospital. He didn't really say what had happened but I guess Bob collapsed and they're taking him to County. I don't know much other than that."

Sam swallowed as he nodded and turned to look out the window, fear filling him. Bob had sort of become like a granddad to him and Sam was scared, he didn't want anything to happen to anybody he cared about... not when they were all finally getting a break in life.

With Dean racing to get to the hospital as fast as possible, they pulled into the parking lot only a few short minutes later. Dean haphazardly parked the car and then both he and Sam took off at a run for the hospital entrance. They briefly stopped at the reception desk to try and find out where Bob McNearny's family was waiting. As the receptionist was looking up the needed information, Sam spotted Mike's brother-in-law, Mark, in the hallway coming back with what looked like a couple of coffees. "Dean," Sam mumbled quietly tugging on his brother's sleeve to get his attention.

Dean glanced at Sam and then noticed Mark. "C'mon," He said before the two of them headed down the hall after Mike's brother-in-law leaving the receptionist behind. "Mark!" Dean shouted, causing the young man to pause and turn when he saw Dean and Sam. "How is he?" Dean asked once they'd caught up to the other man.

Mark shook his head as the three of them paused outside the waiting room. "It doesn't look good… the doctor hasn't been in yet but I guess he was working out in the yard and had a heart attack…" Mark drifted off, worry and sadness in his voice.

Dean hung his head. "Fuck," He whispered. He knew how hard it was to suddenly lose a parent and the thought of his best friend going through that devastated him. Plus, Bob was like a second father to him and losing the man felt like he was losing his own dad all over again. _You don't know that he isn't going to make it_ Dean thought to himself, hoping that this was something that the sixty-six year old man could recover from.

Sam wasn't sure what to say or do so he just hung back and followed his brother into the semi-crowded waiting room.

Mike looked up from where he was pacing when the door opened, hoping that it would be his father's doctor only for it to be Dean and Sam. Dean and Mike locked gazes for a moment before Dean hurried over to his friend, wrapping him up in a hug. "I'm so sorry man." Dean whispered.

Mike sniffled though he tried to hide it as he returned Dean's hug. "Thanks for coming." He mumbled in a shaky voice.

Dean immediately shook his head. "Don't thank me." Mike had been there for him time and time again… now, it was his turn to step up to the plate. Dean squeezed Mike's shoulder and then stepped back to offer his support to the rest of his 'adopted' family. Mike's mom, Carol, almost immediately stood from where she'd been seated next to Jenny, Mike's sister, and enveloped Dean in a hug, crying softly on his shoulder. Dean wrapped his arms around the older woman and tried to comfort her the best that he could, knowing that a few years ago they had all done the same for him.

Seeing that Dean was trying to offer support to their friends and extended family, Sam followed his big brother's lead. Walking up to his friend and former teacher, Sam shot him a watery, supportive smile. "I um… I hope he'll be okay." Sam said sincerely though he felt like that was a pretty lame way to support someone but he didn't know what else he could do.

Mike nodded back at Sam. Before the two of them could exchange any further words a doctor in blue scrubs and a white lab coat walked into the room causing everyone to turn towards him and the room to fall silent. "Family of Bob McNearny?" The red-headed doctor asked as he approached the rather large group.

"How is he?" Mark asked as he wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders, feeling her begin to shake a little. Their twins, Sarah and Emily, sat at their parents' feet playing with some toys oblivious to the drama that was going on around them.

The doctor folded his arms across his chest and took a breath, preparing himself to deliver the bad news. "Mr. McNearny suffered a Myocardial Infection, otherwise known as a heart attack. It appears to have been a massive one and we had to shock him several times before we were able to get his heart started again." A round of gasps could be heard from the rooms' occupants as everyone listened to what the doctor had to say. "He is currently in the Intensive Care Unit where I suspect he will stay for at least the next four to five days as we see just what kind of lasting damage was done. A nurse will be down soon to take you all to his room though try to keep the visits short and no more than two at a time. Do any of you have any questions?" He finished.

"Is he conscious?" Mike asked, the look on his face telling that he was afraid of the answer.

"We have him lightly sedated so he can hear what is going on and respond to minimal commands but essentially, no he's not." The doctor clarified before he looked around the room to see if anyone else had any questions. When no one spoke up, the doctor retreated from the room leaving everyone trying to process what had just happened.

Twenty minutes later, a petite blonde nurse entered the room. "If you'll follow me, I'll take you to his room now." She said, watching as everyone stood. Carol was clutching Mike's hand and the two of them led the way down the hall behind the nurse. Stopping outside of the ICU unit, Dean put a hand on his brother's shoulder to hold him back from the rest of the group.

Sam looked up at his big brother and nodded. He had kind of figured that they might be the last ones to enter.

~DW/SW~

Dean led Sam over to a pair of plastic chairs by the door and sat down to both wait his turn to see Bob and to keep watch over the rest of them. Raising his head, Dean saw Mike leaning tiredly against the wall while he held one of his nieces. Seeing the worry and fear that Mike was trying to mask caused Dean's heart to go out for his friend. Dean stood and walked over to him, not saying anything but just letting his presence try to comfort him much like Mike had done for him when he had been in a similar position.

_"You're early, you bastard!" Dean called out jokingly as he headed down the hall when he heard the doorbell ring. Seeing as how it was Friday night and he didn't have any exams to study for this weekend, he and Mike had decided to hit the town and see what kind of havoc they could wreck. "I thought…" Dean was stopped mid-sentence when he saw that it wasn't Mike who had rung his doorbell. "Ah, can I help you?" He asked the two police officers who were standing on his doorstep. Their sudden appearance made Dean wonder which fun prank of his had apparently crossed the line._

_"Dean Winchester?" One of them asked with a somber look on his face._

_Dean nodded feeling apprehensive and confused. "Yeah, I'm Dean… just what's this about?" He asked._

_"I'm afraid we have some bad news for you son." The officer who had asked him his name responded._

_Dean's eyes darted from one officer to the other, trying to find some clue but other than sad eyes, they gave nothing away. "What is it?" He asked nervously and with a sense of apprehension building in his gut._

_"A John and Mary Winchester were found shot and their car missing down on Route I-80." The officer relayed as he removed his cap. "I'm sorry Dean."_

_Dean felt his legs to turn to jelly and all of the humor and fun that he'd been feeling earlier evaporate almost instantly. "Wh… what?" He asked as he reached forward to grip the doorway even though he really didn't want to hear it a second time. 'They're dead?' He asked himself. 'No, no… they can't be… this is just… no…' "You're lying!" Dean said through gritted teeth as he glared at the two policemen._

_"I'm sorry son. I wish I was but I'm not." The second officer spoke up._

_Dean shook his head, tears gathering in his eyes even as he fought to keep them at bay. _

_"Dean? What's going on?" All three men turned around to see a young, sandy haired guy standing in the driveway. Mike was confused as to why there were two police officers standing on his friend's doorstep and Dean looked like the wind had just been knocked out of him. _

_"They're… they're dead," Dean answered as he choked on a sob._

_"What? Who's dead?" Mike asked as he hurried his steps so that he was now standing in front of his friend. "Dean, what is it man?" Mike was immensely concerned to see that Dean was crying… Dean Winchester rarely cried._

_"My… my parents…" Dean's chest started to heave with the effort it was taking to keep from breaking down. It was a Friday night! He was supposed to go out and get drunk and laid… not learn that his parents had been murdered. _

_Mike stood there dumbfounded for a moment before he turned to glance at the officers. They nodded at him that that was the unfortunate truth. "Jesus…" He breathed, unsure of what to do or say. _

_Dean looked up after a moment of trying to compose himself and failing. "You're… you're sure it's them?" He asked hoping that there was some way that he would be able to prove that this was just a sick joke._

_"We found ID on them." The second officer confirmed. _

_Dean nodded still not able to really believe that this was happening. _

_The small group stood in silence for the next few minutes, one young man struggling to deal with the life changing news while his friend and the two policemen were forced to stand by and watch. "Dean, can we come in? We need to talk… try to get some information so we can catch whoever did this." One of the officers spoke up._

_Numbly, Dean nodded and led the way inside the house. _

"_I'm sorry to have to ask this but did your parents have any enemies?" They questioned him once the four men were sitting in the living room. "Anyone who might have reason to hurt them?"_

_Dean's head snapped up, rage shining in his green eyes. "Who the hell would be their enemy? My mom was a frickin' kindergarten teacher! And my dad fixed cars!" He yelled, angry at the thought that someone would think that this was an act of revenge._

"_We have to ask to rule out all possibilities." The officer stated trying to calm Dean down. They talked for a few more minutes trying to gather information until Mike kicked the two men out when he saw that Dean was seconds away from breaking. Dean remembered not moving from the couch for the rest of the night as he replayed that awful conversation over and over again with the officer's final words ringing in his head. "We're sorry for your loss." The officers had sincerely stated before they had turned to walk down the path to the driveway._

_"You're sorry?" Dean called after them, his voice ragged with emotion. "You're sorry? My parents are… are dead…" Dean drifted off as that last word stuck in his brain, repeating itself over and over again until Dean collapsed onto his knees._

_"Wow, easy Dean, easy," Mike had muttered when he was barely fast enough to catch Dean before he hit the cold hardwood floor. _

Dean was brought out of his memories when the door to Bob's room opened and Jenny and Mark exited. Jenny's jaw was set at a stubborn angle and there were tears on her face. Mark looked somber and worried as he just nodded a silent greeting to his brother-in-law.

Mike glanced a quick look in Dean's direction before he headed into the room. "Wait here," Dean said turning to Sam before he headed after his friend, feeling like Mike shouldn't be alone in there. After all, Mike had made sure that he wasn't alone when he'd had to deal with the news of his parents… why should Dean do any different?

~DW/SW~

Sam was extremely distracted the next day at school as he worried about Bob and the rest of Mike's family, feeling bad that there wasn't anything he could do for them. Sam remembered the first time he'd met Mike's family and how much they had all gone out of their way to try and make him feel comfortable, especially Mike's parents. He knew they didn't have to be that nice to him and it had been one of the first times where he'd actually felt accepted while visiting someone else's home. Sam could remember very clearly being dropped off at whoever was supposed to be his foster parents that month and always feeling as if he wasn't really supposed to be there. Very rarely would the other kids there offer to play or interact with him and the parents… well, he never knew what to expect from them.

"What's up with you today?" James asked as he and Sam walked to join the rest of their group in their usual meeting spot. Sam had seemed quieter than usual today and even when they asked him questions about his new job, he still seemed a little distant… sure, it wasn't totally unusual for Sam to be quiet during class but when it was just their group of friends, he at least smiled and joked with them but that had been missing today and it made James wonder what was on his friends mind.

Sam swallowed. "I ah… I didn't get much sleep last night." He and Dean had stayed at the hospital until almost two-thirty when Dean had finally convinced Mike to go home and sleep for a little bit.

"Everything okay?" James asked concerned.

"Not really, we got a call last night… Mike's dad had to go to the hospital and he isn't doing that great." Sam answered sadly.

"Oh wow, that really sucks." James stated sincerely feeling bad for both his teacher and his friend. He knew that Mike's family was like a surrogate to Sam.

Sam nodded, sniffling a little.

James moved a bit closer to Sam and gently squeezed his shoulder. "If you need anything man, don't hesitate to ask, alright?" James was lucky in the fact that both sets of his grandparents were still alive and doing well and seeing how sad Sam looked confirmed that.

"Thanks," Sam replied quietly as he slid into his normal spot beside Kate just wanting the day to be over already… he felt exhausted.

~DW/SW~

Sam pulled into the driveway, unsurprised to see that the Impala was missing but still wishing that his brother had gotten home early today. _Maybe I'll stop by and see him_ Sam thought as he pulled his keys from the ignition and climbed out of the truck. Opening up the front door, Sam was met with an excited Ace. "You're too hyper today boy," Sam complained with no real heat behind it.

Ace let out a weird whimpering noise and pawed at Sam's leg before he pointed his head in the direction of his leash.

Sam followed Ace's gaze and sighed. "You want to go on a walk?" He asked. Sam smiled a little when Ace barked back at him. "Give me a second, okay?" Sam pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the shop number.

~DW/SW~

"God dammit!" Dean yelled, annoyed as he felt the wrench he was holding slip and causing his arm to scrape against the inside of the engine he was working on. A moment later, the phone rang causing Dean to curse again. "Get the fucking phone!" He ordered.

Sean nodded as he ignored Dean's bad attitude just feeling grateful that there weren't any customers in the shop at the moment to hear it. Dean had explained what had happened the night before and he knew his boss was stressed so he let it go. "Winchester Auto, how can I help you?" Sean asked after he'd picked the receiver up.

"Um, hey Sean… it's Sam, is Dean there?" Sam asked even as Ace continued to dance around him, excited at the mention of his leash.

"Ah yeah, hold on a sec alright?" Sean replied as he casted a look in Dean's direction. "Hey Dean," He called as he walked over to where Dean was washing out his injury. "You alright man?"

"Fine… who's on the phone?" Dean practically growled as he jerked his head towards the phone that was pressed to Sean's shoulder.

_Fine my ass_ Sean thought but he decided to keep his opinion to himself, knowing that Dean wouldn't appreciate any outside input right now. "It's Sam." He said as he held the phone out to Dean.

"Hey kid," Dean said into the phone as he stalked away finally beginning to calm down just a little.

"Hey, I was just wondering if you'd heard anything yet?" Sam asked, wanting to know if there was any further information on Bob's condition.

Dean shook his head as he sighed. "Nah, I talked to Mike about an hour ago and he said there's been no change so that's gotta be some good news right?" Dean asked, trying to sound positive for his brother's sake. He knew that Sam took a lot of his cues from him and he didn't want to make the kid be scared or worried.

"Oh, yeah… I guess so." Sam answered letting out a small sigh.

"So, what ya up to?" Dean asked. He knew that Sam had been affected by Bob's hospital stay and just hoped that this would end up working out okay.

"Ace wants to go on a walk so I'll probably take him after I get off the phone with you." Sam explained.

"Ok, just make sure you take your phone and lock up behind you." Dean reminded.

Sam nodded even though Dean couldn't see him. "I will." He promised. "So, I guess I'll see you at home." Sam said as he got the feeling that Dean was not in a talkative mood today. Truth be told, he wasn't either.

"Yeah, I'm hoping to be home a bit early today. Look, I gotta lot of stuff to do but I'll talk to you later alright?" Dean said as he sighed tiredly.

"Yeah, okay… bye Dean." Sam said just before he hung up.

~DW/SW~

Sam clipped Ace's leash to his collar. "Alright, come on boy." He said leading Ace over to the front door. After he'd locked it behind him, Sam took off down the street for their normal walking path. Usually, Sam tried to make good time and challenge himself to get the walk done as fast as he could. He liked the sense of accomplishment he felt when he beat whatever the record was that he'd set for himself. But that wasn't what he needed today. Today, he needed to just get lost and enjoy his surroundings.

Sam was relieved when they reached the lake almost an hour later since he'd let Ace stop and smell everything that his heart desired. The place was empty meaning he could let Ace run around unleashed without the worry of him interacting too roughly with other dogs or some stranger who might be afraid of dogs. Sam sat down on the hard ground and pulled his knees to his chest, his head pillowed on top of his arms.

Sighing, he took a deep breath as tears began to fill his eyes. He'd seen how tired and wary both his brother and Mike had looked since they'd received the news and it made his heart ache. He wanted to do something to help them, to try and make them feel the slightest bit better but he wasn't sure what he could do… what he could say. He loved both Dean and Mike greatly… they were the first true sense of friends and family that he'd ever known and to see them both so upset right now tore at him.

Sam tilted his head up towards the sky. "Why? Why is that only the good people I know ever have something bad happen to them?" Sam asked the empty space around him. It felt like only the good people who had never hurt him were always the ones to suffer. His foster parents who starved him while they were too high on crack to remember that they'd even taken him in the first place never OD'd or the kids at school who ignored him were never left out of their peer groups and he felt like it was completely unfair. Of course, by now Sam knew that life wasn't fair but he wanted to know why it had to strike now and to people who had never done anything wrong in their lives.

"Why? Why can't you leave us alone?" He shouted as he stood with anger present on his face now. He didn't understand why Dean's parents had needed to be murdered or why it had taken sixteen years for him to find someone who truly loved him or why Mike's dad was now in the hospital. Sam had always hated the phrase 'God works in mysterious ways' because that didn't tell him why he'd been left time and time again with people who thought he was an okay subject to take their anger out on. He didn't want it have to be mysterious with some hidden message inside… he wanted answers, answers for himself and his family.

With an idea in mind, Sam stood and wiped the tears from his face. "Ace, come on we're going home! We've got work to do!" He said determinedly as he dusted the dirt off of his pants hoping that his idea would be considered helpful.

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Hey! So how was that? I hope that the inclusion of Mike's family didn't confuse anybody and that the way Dean's flashback is written makes sense too. I know some of you probably have questions about Sam's behavior at the end of the chapter... I hope it doesn't come off as him being selfish. He's never dealt with something like this before so it opens up a lot of questions for him and is important for later on in the story.

I'll try to update soon... hopefully I'll get a break from the last minute projects my teachers are assigning. Thanks again for reading! I can't wait to hear back from all of you! :)


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys! I am very happy to be able to say that I'm back and that my computer has finally been fixed! I'm praying to God that it doesn't get another virus *keeps fingers crossed* Anyways, thanks for waiting so patiently and I will try to have the next chapter up by next week. I hope all of you enjoy this chapter and I look forward to hearing back from you! Thanks again! :)

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Sam was standing at the stove cooking a pot of spaghetti when he heard the front door being unlocked. "Dean?" He called as he peeked his head out to look into the living room to see who was there. Hearing Ace's nails click-clack against the hardwood floor, he realized that the protective animal was also doing his guard duty and it caused Sam to smile a bit.

"Yeah, it's me." Dean answered with his voice unusually soft as he shut and locked the door behind him.

"I made dinner." Sam offered once Dean had walked into the kitchen. He was hoping that he would somehow be able to lift his brother's spirits even if it was just the tiniest amount. Over the past few years Sam had learned how to read his brother pretty damn well and right now, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Dean wasn't doing so hot. The dark circles underneath his eyes and frown lines on his forehead testified to that fact.

Dean nodded a little as he walked over to the stove and removed his leather jacket. "Yeah, I see… thanks." He responded with little enthusiasm. It wasn't that he wasn't actually grateful for Sam deciding to make dinner tonight… he was just worn out.

"I hope it tastes okay." Normally, it was Dean who did the majority of the cooking with Sam either setting the table or doing small bits but never the entire meal. Sam had thought about making hamburgers but he wasn't entirely confident working the barbeque so he figured that spaghetti was the next best option. _Please don't be sad_ he thought as he watched his brother even though he knew that Dean had a completely legitimate reason to be worried right now… hell, he was too.

"I'm sure it will." Dean encouraged as he opened the fridge and grabbed an unopened can of coke wishing that it was a beer. "How long till it's ready?" He asked.

"Hmm… about fifteen minutes I think." Sam twitched his nose as he thought about it. The noodles still had a couple of minutes left and then he had to put the French bread in.

Dean nodded. "'Kay, I'm gonna go hop in the shower… I won't be long." He promised before he headed down the hall leaving Sam alone in the kitchen.

Sam nodded silently, his heart breaking at his brother's unusual quietness.

~DW/SW~

Dean stood underneath the spray of the shower, letting the slightly too hot water soothe his tired muscles. Today had been a long, hard day… one of his hardest in a while and it felt like it wasn't over yet. Dean was on edge with nerves and anxiety as he waited to hear the next update and the worry was depleting him of all of his energy. _Why can't we catch a break?_ Dean asked himself as his hands curled into fists and he leaned against the tiled wall. _Sammy's finally doing okay and they're pretty sure that that prick is the one who killed 'em…_ Dean hung his head as tears formed in his eyes. He knew that they might never have any definitive evidence that pinned Elias as his parents' real killer but what they did have was enough… enough to give him a bit of satisfaction and finally let them rest in peace. Thinking about his parents made Dean's heart clench because while he wasn't quite the same mess he was almost four years ago, he still missed them. He was tired too… tired of wondering which one of his beloved friends or family would be taken from him next and this situation with Bob, well he wasn't all that hopeful despite the doctors positive outlook.

_Just take it one day at a time_ Dean told himself as he shut the water off, not wanting the dinner Sam prepared to get cold. Hearing the oven beep, he knew that it was time to get out and he quickly dried off, pulling his sweats on. "I'm coming, I'm coming," He called as he walked down the hall to deposit his dirty clothes in the laundry room and then walked to the kitchen.

Sam tried to smile when his brother walked out into the kitchen and took a seat at their small table. "Hope I don't kill you with this." He joked as he set the bowl with the spaghetti in it in the center of the wooden table.

"I'm sure you won't." Dean reassured as he forced himself to try and enjoy a bit of time with the kid.

~DW/SW~

Over the next few days, it was a constant stream of back and forth trips for Sam and Dean. They both still went to work and school but Dean stopped by Mike's house every day before heading home to check up on his friend and make sure that he didn't need anything… well, besides the obvious. He and Sam also stopped by the hospital every evening even if it was only for a few moments. Carol always thanked Dean endlessly for coming but he always shrugged it off, feeling as if this was something that he shouldn't be thanked for.

Bob had now been in the hospital a total of four days and while the old guy wouldn't be running marathons anytime soon, he was doing better even if it was only slightly. _At least he's conscious now_ Dean thought to himself as he began to push open Bob's hospital room door.

"Um, I'll be back in a minute," Sam hesitantly said to his brother as he paused outside of Bob's hospital room.

Dean quirked a brow at Sam, wondering what the kid was up to but nodded anyway. "Okay Sammy." He replied as he opened the door all the way and stepped in.

Sam nodded and walked over to where Carol, Bob's wife, was sitting. "Um, can I… can I sit down?" He asked feeling unusually shy in front of the kind woman.

Carol smiled up at Sam and nodded. "Of course dear," She answered turning more to face him.

Sam swallowed and took a seat beside her, his hands fiddling nervously in his lap. He wasn't sure how this would go over but he hoped that it would be accepted… he was only trying to help and this was the only thing he could think of. After all, he really didn't have much that he could give seeing as how almost everything he had now was something that Dean had provided him with.

"Sam, what is it?" Carol asked as he placed one hand over Sam's when she noticed how nervous he seemed.

"I… I have something for you… you and Bob," He started as he used his free hand to reach into his pocket and take his wallet out.

"What is it?" Carol repeated, feeling intrigued at what the teenager might have with him.

"I just… I know that this isn't much but I just… I don't know how to say thank you and you… you and Bob mean a lot to me and well, I just… I wanted to do something." Sam said quietly as he sat staring at the folded leather in his lap.

Carol waited patiently as it seemed that the young teen had more he wanted to say.

"I know that we're not family but you guys have always treated me like I was one of you and were nice to me when you didn't have to be." Sam furthered remembering times when he'd met his foster families' extended families and the reactions he'd received from them. "Anyways, I just wanted to say thanks and I hope that this helps." Sam opened his wallet and pulled out a folded up envelope. His hands shook as he handed it to Carol.

"Oh Sam, sweetie… you didn't have to do this," Carol replied when she saw the two hundred thirty dollars that the envelope contained.

"I… I know but I want to. You guys have done so much for me…" He drifted off, unsure of how to continue.

Carol sniffled softly as she pulled Sam into a hug. "We love you Sam, you're a great kid." She whispered hoping that someday Sam would realize that that was they had always treated him the way they had… because they loved him and nothing else.

"I love you guys too." Sam responded as he returned the hug, smiling just a little.

~DW/SW~

"Hey Bob," Dean said softly as he entered the older man's hospital room. It was a little later in the evening and they had about an hour until visiting hours ended. While there hadn't been any major improvements over the past twenty-four hours, there hadn't been any major setbacks either so everyone was counting that as a good thing. They were all praying that his recovery would continue without any.

The older man opened his eyes and smiled a bit at the young man standing at the side of his bed. "Hey boy," He said reaching out a hand to pat Dean's arm. Dean was like a third son to him as he and Mike had been friends since they were tots and growing up, it hadn't been unusual for Dean to spend countless hours at their house. Bob was nothing but proud of the way he had turned out and he knew that John would have been just as proud.

"How ya feeling?" Dean asked as he took a seat in one of the plastic chairs placed beside the bed.

"I'll feel better once I get to stop wearing this ridiculous dress," He smiled, showing a bit of his sarcastic personality.

Dean let out a small chuckle. "Nah, I think you should keep it… goes good with your complexion." He teased back feeling the knot of anxiety that had been in his stomach ever since Mike had called him unwind a little bit more. A moment later, both he and Bob turned their heads towards the door and watched as Sam stepped into the room.

Bob shook his head. "How do you put up with this fella Sam? He's awful!" He asked Sam after he'd walked over to his bedside.

Sam shrugged. "I don't really know but hey you've known him longer so I guess you've built up a better tolerance." Sam offered back with affection and fondness in his voice.

"Believe me I have… only way to manage with this trouble maker!" Bob gently slapped Dean on the shoulder and winked at Sam.

"I'm not that bad!" Dean stated, trying to defend himself even as a smile formed on his face.

"Hmmph…" Bob huffed before a yawn escaped him.

"Well, we should let you get your rest." Dean said as he began to stand and then leaned down to give the man a hug.

"Yes, you should." Bob's nurse, a woman by the name of Denise who was a bit on the older side butted in.

"Ah really? But they just got here!" Bob complained with a frown on his face.

"We'll be back tomorrow." Sam promised as he stepped forward to give Bob a hug too.

"You better be kid, I wanna hear all about that job of yours some more alright?" Bob encouraged as he squeezed Sam's shoulder once the teen had stood up again.

Sam nodded with a smile on his face. "I promise."

Dean smiled at the interaction between Sam and Bob knowing that the older man had been a great positive influence on his brother. The old man had always treated Sam with nothing but acceptance and respect and he was grateful to Mike's family for providing such a positive experience for Sam. "Night Bob," Dean called as they left the room. "We'll see you tomorrow Carol." Dean said giving his surrogate mom a hug too when they passed her in the hall.

"Night boys, go home and get your rest!" She chided them like any mother would do while giving Sam a secret smile.

Dean laughed. "Oh trust me, my bed's been calling my name all day!" He responded with a twinkle in his eye watching as Carol shook her head at him before he disappeared down the hall.

~DW/SW~

"Are you sure that it's okay if I go out tonight? I mean, what if…?" Sam asked as he stood in the living room dressed in a blue button down shirt and jeans the next afternoon. He and Kate had made plans the week before to go out tonight but with everything that had happened in the past few days he wasn't sure if he should still go. Besides, he had thought they were going to go visit Bob again.

Dean looked up from where he was sitting on the couch, watching some evening TV. "Yeah Sammy, go okay? Relax and have some fun." He encouraged as he didn't want this situation with Bob to halt Sam's slowly growing social life. He knew that they had planned on visiting him again tonight but Carol had called and told him that Bob had been sleeping for the majority of the afternoon so there wasn't really much of a point, she felt, in them coming to the hospital today.

"Okay but you'll call me if anything happens right?" Sam asked wanting to know that he would be kept in the loop while he was out.

Dean nodded even though he was praying that he wouldn't have to call the kid. "I'll see you when you get home, okay?" He smiled hoping that Kate would be able to help his brother relax a bit.

~DW/SW~

Sam looked across the table at Kate and sighed. "I'm sorry I'm not very good company tonight." He apologized. They had decided to go to one of their favorite places, Mariani's, a fairly new Italian restaurant and normally they had a lot of fun there as it was decently priced and the food was quite good. Tonight though Sam wasn't feeling very fun at all and a part of him wished that he had just stayed home.

Kate shook her head and smiled understandingly. "Sam, it's okay to be sad and worried sometimes," She reassured as she reached across the table and gently squeezed Sam's hand. "I remember when my Great Grandma got sick, it was really sudden and everybody was really worried."

Sam glanced at their entwined hands. "What happened?" He asked hoping that he wasn't going to make her upset by doing so.

"My mom had taken Nana for just a normal check up and we all thought she was doing okay but the doctor told us that her health was failing and that she had six months tops." Kate began. "Over the next month, all of her bodily systems shut down and it was really hard to watch her go from this really vibrant woman to basically a vegetable. It got to the point where she couldn't talk or anything, she just laid there and I remember my sister and I would go into to visit her but I don't think she even knew we were there. None of the grownups wanted to acknowledge just how bad off she was but we all knew and then they brought in the hospice people…" Kate shuddered remembering how final those people had seemed.

"I'm sorry." Sam said as he squeezed Kate's hand supportively.

Kate shrugged. "This might sound strange but her death was actually kind of a relief."

Sam looked at Kate with a confused expression on his face.

"It was so hard to watch her suffer and we all knew that there was no way that she would want to live like that so we were all hoping that she'd go quickly. Granted, I was always terrified on my way home from school because I didn't want to see an ambulance in the driveway or have my mom or dad tell me that she had died but I hated seeing her like that more." Kate explained. "And to tell you the truth, I didn't cry when she died. I had cried a lot in the month before that and I cried at her funeral but when I was told… it was a relief to know that she was okay now."

Sam sat back in his chair, thinking about what Kate had just told him. He was glad that that wasn't happening Bob and he hoped that it wouldn't turn out that way. "I really don't want Bob to die." He admitted, tears forming in his eyes.

"I thought you said that he was doing better?" She asked hopefully.

"He is." Sam nodded with a look of relief on his face. "But what if something else happens?" He asked, now with fear in his voice. Sam knew that people weren't invincible but the thought of what had happened to Kate's great grandma happening to someone he cared about terrified him.

"Then you do what you can to help that person and you deal with it." Kate answered as she silently signaled to the waiter for the check. Tonight was her turn to pay and besides, Sam kind of looked like he wanted to get out of there.

_What if that's not enough?_ Sam silently asked.

~DW/SW~

A couple of evenings later, Sam watched his brother as they both settled down in front of the TV to relax before heading off to bed. Since Bob's condition had seemed to improve Dean had seemed to be a little less restless and Sam hoped that things would continue to move in a positive direction. _Please cut us a break_ Sam silently prayed hoping that the good turn of events wouldn't turn back on them. "Bob looked better today." He commented wanting to know what Dean thought would happen.

His brother nodded. "Yeah he did… hopefully he'll be able to come home soon." Dean replied changing the channel when it went to commercial.

"Yeah… did Carol say anything to you?" Sam asked wanting to know if the doctors had had anything new to add.

"Nah, nothing we don't already know." He responded, shaking in his head in answer.

_Well that's good_ Sam thought just before a yawn slipped out of him. "Hmm, I'm tired." He whined feeling sleepy now that he wasn't so consumed with worry but not wanting to go to bed just yet.

Dean laughed. "Well you sure do love the nightlife don't you kiddo?" He teased affectionately.

Sam stuck his tongue out at his brother and was about to reply when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Looking at the caller ID, he saw that it was Kate that was calling him. "Hey, hold on a sec alright?" He asked after he'd answered the phone. Sam bid goodnight to his brother, ignoring the good natured brotherly teasing that followed him down the hall.

"I missed you at school today," He sighed as he flopped down on his bed on his back, staring up at his ceiling. "I hope you're feeling better?"

Kate smiled at her boyfriend's sweet and caring words. "Yeah, I am. How are you doing?" She asked concerned though she still sounded a bit stuffed up. The last time she'd seen Sam he'd been pretty upset over the fact that Mike's dad was in the hospital and what might happen to the older man.

"I'm…" Sam paused. "I'm doing okay. We went and saw Bob earlier and he looked better so hopefully that's a good sign."

"Well I'm glad to hear that." Kate stated with sincerity in her voice.

"Yeah me too… Dean says he thinks that Bob might come home this weekend." Sam offered just before he heard a knock on his bedroom door. "Ah, hold on a sec Kate." Sam pushed himself off of his bed and began walking towards the closed door. "Yeah Dean?" He asked once he'd opened it a little bit, worried thoughts forming when he saw the look on his brother's face.

"We um… we need to talk." Dean explained in a very shaky voice. He opened his mouth to continue but closed it again, not knowing which words were right. _There are no right words… only the truth_ he thought to himself, knowing firsthand how much this type of news hurt.

Sam nodded, his gut twisting with fear. "Ok… um Kate, can I call you back?" He asked bringing the phone back up to his ear.

"Sure Sam, I'll talk to you later." Kate said hoping that whatever made him have to hang up wasn't a big deal but in her gut, she knew they weren't going to be that lucky.

"Dean?" Sam asked as he walked out into the living room with hesitant steps. The sadness on his brother's face was not something he liked to see and considering everything that had happened recently he had a good idea what it was all about. Sam found Dean sitting on the couch, his shoulders slumped and shaking. Instantly, Sam knew that his big brother was crying over whatever it was that they needed to discuss.

"Ahh come here kiddo," Dean said as he patted the space on the couch next to him. His voice was rough and ragged as he swiped a hand over his eyes trying to compose himself somewhat.

Sam nodded and silently walked over to the couch, taking the seat Dean had indicated. "What… what's wrong?" He asked even as tears filled his own eyes. _Please… please _Sam begged.

"Mike… Mike just called me… I'm sorry Sammy," Dean watched as Sam's bottom lip began to tremble and it only increased the amount of pain he was feeling. _Oh God, why the hell did this have to happen now?_ Dean silently questioned.

"He… he died?" Sam asked, shaking his head slightly… almost as if he was willing the answer to be no.

Sadly, Dean nodded. "They said he had another heart attack about half an hour ago and he just couldn't take it." Tears began to fall down Dean's face and he put his head in his hands as he tried to stifle the sound of his sobs.

Sam sat stock still on the couch feeling as if he were in a fog. _Bob had died_ Sam wondered to himself. _But we just saw him earlier… he was doing better. They said he could come home this weekend_ Sam felt immensely confused. He wasn't sure what to say or do right now. His eyes danced from spot to spot in the living room, almost as if some inanimate object would hold the answers he was looking for.

After another few minutes, Dean sniffled and wiped a hand over his face smearing the tears that were still there. "I um… I want you to stay home from school tomorrow, okay?" He said with his voice rough with emotion. "I think that might be best."

Sam nodded numbly as he was still trying to process the fact that the man he'd come to think of as a granddad was now gone.

Dean watched as Sam bit his bottom lip and turned away from him. "Sammy?" He asked concerned.

Sam didn't respond but his shoulders began to shake and he buried his face in one of the couch cushions trying to hide how upset he was.

Dean sighed and felt his tears start up again. "Shh, come here Sammy." He said as he pulled Sam back towards him. Dean wrapped his arms tight around his brother's middle and held on to him, feeling rather lost himself. The two brothers sat like that for a while, both of them trying to figure out where to go from there and how to help the other.

~DW/SW~

Early the next morning, Dean woke though he felt like he hadn't slept a wink. _God dammit!_ Dean thought angrily as he laid in his bed angry at God and at the world for taking Bob from them. He remembered feeling furious with the universe after his parents had been killed… wondering just who in the hell thought that that was a needed event and right now, those feelings were coming back in full force. "Fuck you," He muttered as he stared up at the ceiling wishing that there was someone he could punish for Bob's death but knowing that it had been nature and not mankind's fault.

~DW/SW~

Later that morning, Sam stood in the hall listening to Dean talking on the phone with Sean. His eyes were red and puffy and his stomach felt all twisted up. Sam couldn't believe it that the man he considered to be like a Grandpa was actually gone. He couldn't believe that he'd never get a hug from the old guy again or get to listen to one of his stories or ask him for advice and he felt tears prick his eyes. In the past whenever someone exited his life, it was normally for the better but this… this was most definitely not an improvement and Sam was scared at what might happen next.

* * *

Hey! So, how was that? I hope you all felt like the chapter was well written and that the characters reacted realistically. I hope to year from all of you and I'll try to update soon, thanks again! :)


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys, here's the next chapter. I'm sorry about the format, it's being weird and I can't change it but I don't want you guys to have to wait any longer so it will have to do. Also... about the wait, my computer broke again. I can't tell you how frustrated I am... I wanna slam the stupid thing down and jump on it but I don't have money for a new one so that's not an option :P Anyways, thanks for being patient and with any luck I will have another update for you shortly. Thanks again! :)

The song I used is John Mayer's Stop this Train... I thought it was a fitting choice for this chapter, I hope you agree.

* * *

Sam stood beside his brother dressed in his charcoal gray suit

listening as Dean made uninterested small talk with people before they

headed inside the church for the funeral service. They had arrived at

the church, alongside Mike's immediate family, a little over twenty

minutes ago. Rachel, Sean, and Sean's girlfriend Madison had come with

them and the three of them were each doing their best to act as silent

and yet solid comforts for Sam, Mike, and Dean.

Sam watched as a large man dressed in a black suit approached their

group and extended a hand to his brother. "Dean, it's been a while."

The man greeted as the two of them shook hands.

Dean nodded back at the man. "Yeah, yeah, it has." He agreed as he

adjusted the sunglasses he was wearing. They talked for a few minutes

before Dean turned to the four of them. "Um Roger, this is my younger

brother Sam, my girlfriend Rachel, and our friends Sean and Madison.

Guys, this is Mike's uncle Roger. He was Bob's brother."

All of them moved to shake the man's hand and offer their

condolences. A moment later, people began to file into the church

causing Sam, Dean, Rachel, Sean, and Madison to follow suit. Sam

followed his brother to the front of the church as they looked for

Mike being sure to stick close to his brother's side.

~DW/SW~

Dean leaned over and gently squeezed his friend's shoulder when Mike

stood from the pew to head up to the front of the church so he could

give his speech. He knew from personal experience that this was easily

one of the hardest things you could ever do.

"Um, thank you all for coming today. I know my dad would have been

pleased that the crowds were here," Mike started as he gripped the

paper he'd written his speech down on in shaky hands. "No, actually

he'd probably ask why we chose to gather at a church when we could be

having a barbeque." He said making some people laugh as they knew that

was the truth. "My dad was the kind of guy you could sit back and have

a beer with and nothing needed to be said so long as both people

wanted to be there. He was also the guy who would put a whoopee

cushion underneath your seat and then act like it was one of his

grandkids who had put it there. He's where Dean and I learned our best

pranks from so I guess it's now up to the two of us to continue his

legacy. I warn you all, beware of where you seat…" Dean smiled softly

at his friend, knowing that Bob had been the leader in their mayhem…

especially when they were young. Mike tried to keep his tears back but

much to his displeasure, a few fell and landed on the paper smearing

the words he'd written.

Everyone sat and waited patiently for Mike to regain a bit of his composure.

"He's also where I learned to work hard in life and that nothing

comes free. I remember growing up, my brother I wanted a basketball

hoop because everyone else in the neighborhood had one. Well, he made

us go outside and measure the driveway to make sure we'd get the right

dimensions. I guess that was his engineer training showing through. We

thought that was all we'd have to do… nope, I don't think my brother

and I ever wanted to see a lawnmower ever again after that summer was

over but come September, we had our basketball hoop. I guess I'm still

working for that basketball hoop. Thanks dad, I'll dunk a few for

you." He finished before he stepped down and walked back to the front

pews with his head bowed.

~DW/SW~

"Dean?" Sam whispered as he gently tugged on his brother's suit

sleeve a little while later.

"Yeah Sammy?" Dean asked as he bent his head so that Sam didn't have

to speak too loud. The funeral was a little over halfway done and

though tears had been shed, laughs had also occurred. Dean personally

thought that Mike's speech was the one that summed Bob up the best.

"Do um… do you think it would be okay if I… if I went up there?" Sam

asked hesitantly. He felt like he wanted, needed to say, just how

great of a person Bob had been. He wanted to say his peace and thank

the man too. He also knew that the majority of the people in the room

were people who he had never spoken too before in his life and

speaking in front of them… it was terrifying.

Dean stared at his brother in shock. _Sam wanted to speak?_ His

brother, the shy little turtle wanted to speak in front of all of

these people? _Bob meant a lot to him_ Dean told himself as he smiled

softly. "Yeah Sammy, if you wanna speak then go ahead." He encouraged,

interested in both how Sam would do once he actually got up there and

what he was going to say.

Sam nodded and waited for the priest to ask if anyone had anything

else that they would like to add. Looking back at his brother for

encouragement, Sam saw Dean nodding at him so he stood and walked to

the front of the church feeling his hands start to sweat.

The priest smiled kindly at him and stepped to the side.

Sam had no idea what he was going to say and was beginning to second

guess his decision to speak at the funeral. He silently stood in front

of the podium for several minutes. Sam felt shaky and nervous as he

turned his head to look at the closed casket that was placed on the

side. "I… I…" He started feeling tears prick his eyes. "I know that

some of you are probably wondering who I am and how I know Bob. Well,

my name's Sam and Bob was like a granddad to me… as I'm sure he was to

a lot of you. I met Grandpa Bob for the first time three years ago

when my older brother took me to Thanksgiving at Mike's house. I

remember we walked into the house and Bob was standing in the kitchen

carving the turkey and it just seemed so normal to me."

Sam paused as he held on tightly to the podium trying to keep from

crying. "Like Mike said, he was okay silently watching a game… he also

taught me how to get one over my brother and I know that everything,

not just the pranks, are things I will remember and try do for the

rest of my life." He looked over at the casket and sniffled. "He was

one of the smartest, nicest people I've ever known… and I feel really

lucky that I did get to know him. Hopefully he'll see me down here and

be proud of what I've learned. That's all I wanted to say." Sam ended

quietly before he stepped down from the podium, his arms wrapped

tightly around himself. Sam made his way over to his brother and took

his seat again, his tears starting to come faster.

Taking a handful of tissues from Rachel, Dean handed them to Sam

before he wrapped his arm around his little brother pulling him close

to his chest. "That was a good speech kiddo," He whispered as he

gently rubbed Sam's arm, trying to offer him a little bit of comfort.

~DW/SW~

Standing outside the church once more, Sam was surprised when he felt

a tap on his shoulder and turned around to see James, Bobby, and Kate

standing behind him. "Hey guys," He said smiling tearfully. James and

Bobby were both dressed in suits and Kate was wearing a nice dress

that on any other occasion Sam would have thought looked very pretty

on her.

"Hey, how are you?" Kate asked as she stepped forward to give him a hug.

Sam felt Kate hug him and he returned it, burying his face in her

shoulder. "I miss him," Sam whispered with tears in his voice.

"Shh," She soothed as she hugged him a little longer, surprised that

Sam was crying openly in front of them. He usually tried to hide it as

best he could. _This is a pretty big loss_ she told herself.

After a moment, Sam sniffled and stepped back allowing Bobby and James

to step forward and give him each a shoulder squeeze.

"Hey Sam," Dean interrupted a moment later. He sent grateful and yet

dull smiles to Sam's friends. He was glad that they were there for his

brother's sake but he really wasn't in a people mood at the moment.

"Hey Dean, we're sorry to hear about Bob." James replied.

Dean swallowed thickly before he returned his attention to his

brother. "I think people are gonna start heading up to the cemetery."

He explained.

Sam nodded as a shudder passed through him. He'd never been to a

funeral before and at this rate, he was hoping that he wouldn't have

to go to another for a very long time. It still doesn't seem real he

thought to himself.

"Go, we'll meet you up there." James decided, figuring that Sam would

want to go with his brother instead of them.

Sam nodded again and then followed Dean to the Impala.

~DW/SW~

A short drive later found everyone up at the cemetery as they waited

for Bob's casket to be dropped and for him to be laid to rest.

Standing amongst the group of attendees, Dean looked over to the side

and was immensely glad that he was wearing his sunglasses and no one

could see just how red and tear-filled his eyes were.

Seeing how Dean kept looking to the side, Sam followed his brother's

gaze and realized that they weren't that far from Mary and John's

graves. _Dean_ Sam sighed to himself, knowing that Dean had to be

thinking about his parents today. Sam shared a silent look with Rachel

and knew that she was thinking the same thing. James and Andy stood

next to him while Kate was holding his hand, gently stroking it with

her thumb trying to soothe him a little.

"Bob's son, Chris, recently came back from Ireland and he brought some

Irish soil with him. The family would like it if everyone could take a

small handful and toss it in as you walk by." The funeral director

instructed causing everyone to form a line around the casket as

everyone said their final goodbyes.

~DW/SW~

Back at Bob and Carol's house, everyone was gathered for a barbeque

just like they knew Bob would have wanted them to have. Sam was

walking over to get a soda from the ice chest when he was approached

by a small group of teenagers.

"You're Dean's brother, right?" One of them asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, I'm Sam." He said as he looked around for his

brother, spotting him talking to their group of friends. His own

friends were sitting at the table he'd just vacated.

"Cody… you wanna hang out with us? It can be kind of boring just

sitting and talking with the grown-ups." The red headed teenager asked

as he extended a hand for Sam to shake.

Watching as Bobby, James, and Kate all stood and headed for where he

was he nodded. "Yeah um okay," He said shyly as he waited for his

friends so he could do introductions. The four of them followed Cody

to the front yard where there were a handful of kids sitting on the

stoop.

"That was a good speech you did." A girl Sam didn't know commented.

"Oh, ah thanks," He replied, blushing a little even as he tried to

tune out of the conversation. He didn't really want to talk right now

but he hadn't wanted to seem rude either.

Seeing how Sam was trying to back out of the conversation, Kate

scooted closer to her boyfriend and gently squeezed his knee. "I like

your dress," She smiled softly as she tried to pull the girl's

interest away from Sam.

~DW/SW~

Sam, Bobby, Kate, and James had been talking with their newfound

friends for a while when a little blonde-haired girl skipped up to

them. "I'm Chloe," She said introducing herself to Sam causing Cody to

groan.

"Chlo, go away. The big kids are talking okay?" He told his little sister.

"Mommy says I can play with you guys too!" She stubbornly stuck out

her bottom lip and stomped her little foot down.

"Chloe, not now later alright?" He tried to negotiate with her.

"My mommy's name is Maggie. What's your mommy's name?" Chloe asked as

she ignored her brother.

"Ah," Sam swallowed nervously as he wasn't totally sure what to say.

"I… I don't have a mommy." He eventually admitted in a quiet voice

though he wasn't sure why he had. That wasn't something he usually

liked to tell people.

Chloe gasped. "You don't?" She asked with her eyes wide. "Then who

tucks you in at night? And who makes you chicken soup when you're

tummy hurts and you feel icky?"

"My big brother does." Sam replied hoping that this little girl

wouldn't have too many more questions.

"What's his name?" She asked curiously.

"His name's Dean and he's right over there," He said pointing to where

Dean was standing in the hopes that Chloe would go talk to him.

"Chloe, come place with us!" A little brown haired girl called from

where she stood inside the house.

Sam breathed out a sigh of relief when Chloe smiled and stood,

running after her friend.

"I'm sorry about her… she's a pest." Cody apologized.

"No, she's cute. It's okay." Sam reassured even as his friends

watched him withdraw more into himself. Wanting to help their friend

out a bit, James, Bobby, and Kate helped to redirect the conversation

all while keeping a watch over Sam.

~DW/SW~

A little over two weeks had passed since the funeral and though Sam

and Dean were still grieving, things were slowly getting back on

track. Sam was back at work at the animal shelter and Dean had

reopened the shop. The only thing was the conversation Sam had had

with that little girl at Bob's funeral would not leave him alone and

it was bugging him that he couldn't forget it and move on. He'd

obviously always known that he had a biological mom out there

somewhere and while he'd wondered about her, more so when he was

younger, he'd always been able to accept the fact that she obviously

wasn't curious about him. Now though, his questions wouldn't leave him

alone and he didn't know how to tell Dean.

"That fucker's gonna pay!" Dean ground out in an angry sounding voice.

"Who?" Sam asked as he felt confused about whom his brother was

talking about as he watched Dean pick up his jacket and car keys.

"The ass who is supposed to make Bob's headstone's apparently giving

Carol trouble." Dean explained as his anger grew. He didn't know how

this prick was excusing his tardiness but it was about time Mike's

family had some damn answers. "I'll be back later, alright? Call me if

you go out." He said before he headed out the door.

~DW/SW~

Dean met Mike at the cemetery and the two of them headed over to the

office. "Hi, we have some questions for Mr. Trey View… can you tell us

where we can find him?" Dean asked the lady.

"I'm sorry but he's on vacation right now. He won't be back until next

week." She replied.

"He's on vacation?" Mike asked as he stepped up to the counter. "He

told my mom he'd be done by now."

"I'm sorry but…" The woman started.

"Sorry isn't gonna bring my dad back… the least you people could do is

have some fucking respect for his wife!" Mike yelled as began to get a

bit overworked.

"Dude, go outside. I'll take care of this." Dean said, trying to calm

his friend down as he pushed him towards the door. Once Mike was

outside, Dean turned back to the lady. "Look we already went through

this a couple of years ago. It took months for me to get my parents

headstones made by that incompetent asshole you guys have hired… his

family's not gonna wait that long. Now, when Mr. View comes in the

very first project he's gonna do is the one for Robert McNearny,

alright?" He ranted.

Silently, the lady nodded causing Dean to walk back outside to his friend.

"Thanks for coming down here man. You didn't have to." Mike said as

the two of them took a seat on one of the nearby benches.

Dean shook his head. "I know what it's like to wait for something as

simple and yet important as a headstone when no one else seems to give

a flying fuck… didn't want that to happen to you guys." He shrugged as

he remembered how much he'd had to fight with the guy to get it done.

"How ya holding up?" Dean asked.

Mike shook his head. "It doesn't seem real ya know?" Whenever he

pulled into the driveway of his parents' house, he always

half-expected his dad to be just around the corner working on

something. It felt weird to know that in the house he grew up in

surrounded by his parents and siblings; his mom was the only one there

now.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, I know. How's your mom?"

"I don't think living alone is a good idea anymore but we know she's

not gonna wanna sell the house. Mark and Jenny are gonna ask her to

move in with 'em." Mike explained.

"Give 'em all a hug for me?" Dean asked when Mike stood and looked

like he was ready to go.

Mike nodded. "Say hi to the kid, alright?"

"Will do." Dean replied as he stood and pulled Mike in for a hug.

"Take care of yourself man… things get better, alright?"

Mike nodded again knowing that Dean was right but feeling as if it

would take forever to get there. And this was only losing one parent…

he couldn't imagine losing both parents at once.

~DW/SW~

Sam was over at Kate's house as the two of them had a study date. "Oh,

my mom hates this song," Kate said when John Mayer's song _Stop This_

_Train_ started playing on her radio.

"What song is it?" Sam asked since he didn't recognize the song.

"Stop this Train… she says that it reminds her too much of her

grandparents." Kate explained wondering if she should find a different

radio station for Sam's sake.

"No, stay here," Sam ordered when he saw her start to reach for the

radio. "Please?"

"Ok," Kate smiled softly at him and gently squeezed his hand.

_No, I'm not color blind_

_I know the world is black and white_

_I try to keep an open mind but I just can't sleep on this tonight_

_Stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again_

_I can't take the speed it's moving in_

_I know I can't but honestly_

_Won't someone stop this train?_

_Don't know how else to say it_

_But I don't wanna see my parents go_

_One generations length away from finding life out on my own_

_Stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again_

_I can't take the speed it's moving in_

_I know I can't but honestly_

_Won't someone stop this train?_

_So scared of getting older, I'm only good at being young_

_So I play the numbers game to find a way to say that life has just begun_

_Had a talk with my old man, said help me understand_

_He said turn 68, you renegotiate_

_Don't stop this train, don't fall or change the place you're in_

_Don't think I could ever understand_

_I tried my hand but John honestly we'll never stop this train_

_Once in a while, when it's good it'll feel like it should_

_And they're all still around and you're still safe and sound_

_And you don't miss a thing till you're crying when you're driving away_

_in the dark_

_Singing_

_Stop this train, I wanna get off and go home again_

_I can't take the speed it's moving in_

_I know I can't but honestly_

_Won't someone stop this train?_

_Cause now I see I'll never stop this train_

When the song ended, Sam looked up and nodded. "I see why your mom

doesn't like it." He said as he wiped a hand across his eyes because

really, who did want to spend time thinking about what would happen

when their parents died? And I've only got one parent Sam thought to

himself knowing that Dean was pretty much the center of his world when

it really came down to who he considered to be his family.

* * *

Hey, so how was that? I hope it was worth the wait and I hope to hear from any of you who are still interested. Thanks again! :)


	7. Chapter 7

Hey guys, I am so sorry that this chapter is half the length of normal and that it is massively late. Things have been hell here lately and pretty much anything that could go wrong this summer has. It took me so long to get my computer back because my boyfriend's dad had a heart attack and he was understandably a bit distracted for a while. My dad's probably going to be laid off from his job tomorrow and we just sent my youngest sister off to Wilderness Camp in Utah because she is spinning completely out of control... oh, and I've been sick for about a month and no one can find out what the hell it is and tomorrow I have to take my dog to the vet because they think she might have Cushings Disease. Stick a fork in me... I'm done. Sorry for the rant, I'm just a bit fried at the moment.

Anyways, I hope that despite the lack in length that the chapter is still quality material. I will try to make the next one longer and I will try my best to get it out sometime soon but who knows when that will actually be. Thanks for listening to me complain and for reading my story, you guys are the best! I hope you enjoy the chapter. :)

* * *

Standing outside of Diane's office a few days later found Sam drawing a deep breath as he pocketed his keys with a weary expression on his face. He sighed and ran a hand over his jaw, knowing that he had a lot to discuss with his therapist today. "Hey Jamie," He greeted the friendly receptionist after he'd walked into the front office of the rather large building.

"Hey Sam, what's going on?" The stereotypical blonde-haired woman asked as she crossed Sam's name off of the daily roster of patients.

"I'm alright, how about yourself?" Sam answered, standing in front of the desk and handing Jamie the check that Dean had written to pay for this weeks visit.

"Doing well, Diane's ready for you anytime alright?" Jamie said, smiling as she handed Sam the receipt.

"Ok, thanks." Sam smiled at her before he headed down the carpeted hall and to where Diane's office was located. He knocked on the open door jam to announce his presence before he stepped inside the now familiar room.

"Afternoon Sam," Dr. Boston smiled warmly. She had been seeing Sam as a patient for about three years now and she had grown quite fond of the young man. He was a good kid who had had a bad start in life and he was exactly the type of person she'd pictured herself helping when she had first started as a child abuse counselor so many years ago.

"Hey Dr. B," Sam replied as he walked to his usual spot on her couch though he no longer felt the need to hold a pillow against his chest as if it were some kind of protection device.

"How are you doing today?" She asked knowing that these past few weeks had been undoubtedly hard on her client to say the least.

"Getting better," Sam answered truthfully. It still hurt to think about the fact that Bob was officially and permanently gone. "I mean sometimes it'll just hit me and I have to kind of take a minute to get it under control before I totally lose it again." There were several small, ordinary things that made him think of Bob and they usually ended up making him quite teary-eyed.

"What do you mean when you say you have to get "it" under control?" She asked.

Sam shrugged. "The urge to kick something or to yell at whoever is nearby." Sam explained thinking back to the day at the lake when he had asked God why the hell this was happening in the first place. "I mean, I feel cheated and... and I don't know, even though I know it wasn't anyone's fault I still wish there was someone I could blame for this, you know?" He asked, hoping that Diane would understand what it was he was trying to explain.

"Anger is a normal part of grief Sam. It's good that you realize that." Dr. Boston encouraged knowing that this Sam, the one who could admit to how he was feeling was a long way from the scared and silent teen she had first met.

"I wish Dean would realize that," Sam mumbled barely loud enough for Diane to hear. Over the past three years, Sam had come to realize that his older brother was not the type of guy who liked to show emotion, especially if he thought that it would make him seem more vulnerable. Ever since Bob's death though, Sam had noticed that Dean had been completely burying himself in his work at the shop working way longer than he normally did and not getting home until later. It made Sam worry about just what his brother was doing to himself. _Maybe now isn't the best time to bring this up_ he thought to himself. _After all, I've gone the past seventeen years without knowing anything... would it really hurt to wait a little while longer?_ Sam sighed, not knowing what he should do.

"You don't think Dean's dealing?" Dr. Boston asked noticing that Sam himself looked quite tired and stressed out.

Sam shook his head no. "No, he... he just goes to work really early in the morning and then completely ignores everything else and that's not the only thing I'm worried about either."

"What is it?" Dr. Boston asked when Sam didn't continue on his own accord.

"At... at the funeral, there was this little girl there who kept asking me questions about my family and my parents..." Sam shook his head as he drifted off, remembering how worried the little girl had seemed about him. "When I told her that I didn't have a mom and dad, she kind of got freaked out. She asked me who took care of me when I got sick and such and I told her that my big brother did. But that's the scary thing... Dean's all I've got. What if something happens to him too?" Sam asked with his eyes shining with tears. He knew that his brother was overall a pretty healthy guy but they had thought that Bob was doing okay and then he went and had a heart attack and died.

"That's a realistic worry to have Sam." Dr. Boston agreed. "Have you talked to Dean about this at all?" She asked.

Sam shook his head no again. "I know that everybody has to die sometime but Dean's my only family. I mean, without him, I'm all alone." Sam internally shuddered. He had been alone without someone who cared about him whatsoever for the first sixteen years of his life and he never wanted to have to go through that ever again. It was a horrible feeling to know that you didn't have anyone to turn to or anyone who was willing to be there for you... it had made him wonder what was wrong with him that he was the person that didn't have anybody and now that he did, he had absolutely no plans to let them go anytime soon.

Diane nodded understandably but before she could say anything, Sam continued.

"And there's something else too. I know that I do have people who, biologically, are considered my parents but I don't remember them. I mean, I was two the last time I saw them..." Sam became quiet again as he turned his head to look out towards the window.

"Sam, can I ask you a question?" Dr. Boston asked with small bit of hesitancy in her voice.

Surprised to hear his doctor sounding hesitant while talking to him, Sam looked up and nodded, wondering what it was that she was going to say.

"You're curious about your birth parents, aren't you?" She asked knowing that it wasn't uncommon for kids Sam's age who had either been adopted at a young age or who had grown up in the foster care system to become curious and want to know more about themselves and their background.

After a moment, Sam nodded. "I feel so guilty though." He admitted quietly.

"Why? What about it makes you feel guilty?" She asked with no judgment in her voice, only the professional curiosity to help her patient.

"Because I feel like I'm betraying Dean," Sam replied. "He's the one whose taken care of me when no one else could be bothered to give a crap and now I feel like I'm saying that all he's done wasn't good enough."

Diane knew that Dean was the single most important person in Sam's life so him trying to explain to her that it wasn't because Dean was somehow lacking was quite unnecessary. Still though, she listened patiently.

"It's just that I wish that I knew something, you know?" He paused to look back up at his therapist and confidant. "Other than what the state decided to write about."

"I understand Sam and I think that if you explain it to Dean, he'll understand too." Dr. Boston encouraged knowing that it might take a bit of convincing for Sam to be able to have this conversation with his brother.

_I kind of doubt it_ Sam thought to himself but nodding back at the doctor anyways.

~DW/SW~

"Hey, you wanna come grab some dinner with me and Madison?" Sean asked his friend and co-worker the next day after the two of them had worked a long hard day at the shop. It was nearing seven in the evening and he had had plans to meet up with his girlfriend for a quick meal after her classes ended for the day and he had wanted to invite Dean to come with them feeling like Dean needed to do something other than work on these damn cars.

Dean quickly glanced up from where he was still working underneath the hood of a Toyota Tundra pick-up truck. "No thanks, I'm gonna stay a while longer... try to finish this one up."

Sean sighed frustratedly. "You sure man?" He asked again.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Dean bit out through clenched teeth, wishing that Sean would just leave him alone already. He needed the work at the shop, not just to pay the bills but also as a way of maintaining some sense of sanity. Lately, Dean felt as if everything was out of his control... his parents' murders, Sam's abuse and Bob's heart attack were all unexpected and unforeseeable situations that had ended with someone he cared about either being taken away from him or suffering unnecessarily. These cars with their busted tail light and dented back ends were what he could control. When he worked on the wrinkled pieces of metal that his costumers brought into him, he listened to their complaints and could generally get a pretty good feel for what the problem was. And more times than not, he knew exactly where to put which wires or what needed to be tightened in order to fix the machine. Unfortunately, his family didn't quite work that way and he was immensely nervous about what hurdle they would have to jump over next.

Sighing tiredly and feeling a pain begin to build in his lower back. _Shit_ he thought hoping to hell that he hadn't pulled anything or was not coming down with something. He put it down to stress and continued working, ignoring the feeling that it was something more than exhaustion and stress.

~DW/SW~

Carrying his dirty clothes and the towel he'd just used to dry off with after his shower down the hall to the laundry room, Sam deposited them in the hamper before making his way back out to the living room. "Hey ah... can we talk?" Sam asked nervously. He knew Dr. Boston was right, that this sudden curiosity he had was something that he needed to discuss with his brother, not just because he thought he'd need Dean's help to do it but also because he didn't want to keep secrets from him. Sam nervously took a seat on the couch beside Dean, wondering how he was going to explain what it was he wanted without causing trouble.

Dean quirked an eyebrow at his brother, noticing how tense Sam seemed. "Yeah sure, what's going on?" He asked wondering what was causing the frown lines to appear on Sam's forehead. The two of them talked more than probably any other pair of brothers out there and while Dean wasn't exactly a "share and care" type of guy, he knew that talking to someone was often the most helpful way to get Sam to deal with whatever was going on whether it be girls and his relationship with Kate or any other typical teenage situation.

"Um so I talked to Dr. Boston the other and well, I think you should know too." Sam started as he picked at a stray threat on the couch.

_Hunh?_ Dean thought knowing that the things that Sam talked to Dr. Boston about usually stayed just between those two. "Okay," Dean paused, beginning to get nervous himself.

"At the funeral," Sam felt Dean shift on the couch and he swallowed, knowing that Dean really didn't like thinking about that particular event. Truth be told, he didn't either. "Anyways, there was this little girl there... I think her name was Chloe."

"Yeah, she's Travis's kid." Dean explained causing Sam to nod even though he wasn't completely sure who Travis was.

"Anyways, she was asking me about my mom and dad and finally I told her that I didn't have a mom and dad... at least not in the traditional sense." Sam explained quickly, hesitancy and fear obvious in his voice. "And... I don't know... I just... well, it got me thinking."

"Thinking about what?" Dean asked, even though he had a pretty good idea of what his brother was getting at.

"That it might be nice to actually know who and where I come from, ya know?" He finished before he looked up, seeing an unreadable expression on Dean's face. _Please understand_ Sam prayed, hoping that Dean would know that this was nothing against him. "What do you think?" Sam asked when at least a couple of minutes had passed and still his brother hadn't said anything.

Dean swallowed. "I don't really know why you would want to have anything to do with them." He replied before he stood from the couch and turning his back to his brother. _Damn it Sammy, why can't you leave well enough alone?_ Dean silently wondered.

"I have a lot to do with them," Sam said quietly. "They're... they're my blood."

_Doesn't mean that they're family_ Dean thought to himself, feeling rather hurt by his brother's choice. "I don't know Sam. I don't think it's a good idea." He argued, the need to protect the kid from further harm bubbling up. He had read the files on Sam's parents. He knew how violent Sam's dad had been and just how messed up an addict his mother had been... choosing to fill her veins with vile substances instead of doing what was right and protecting her only child.

"Why?" Sam asked quietly as he sat on the couch with his knees folded up against his chest.

"Because Sam... they're... they're dangerous." Dean sighed as he began to pace the living room, running a hand through his short hair.

_What?_ Sam asked himself, not completely understanding what Dean meant when he said that Sam's birth parents were dangerous. "I'm not saying that I want to meet them Dean. I just want to find out about about them, that's all." Sam countered.

Dean shut his eyes, feeling the pain that had started in his lower back slowly work it's way around to his side. He groaned painfully.

"Dean, you alright?" Sam asked, their current discussion forgotten when Sam saw how pale his brother was.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm fine, just been working too hard is all." Dean replied, trying not to freak the kid out even though he felt like absolute crap right about now.

"You sure, you don't look good." Sam commented, his worry about his brother's health and safety beginning to climb once again.

"Yeah, it's just been a long day but seriously Sam, I just... I don't know..." Dean drifted off, knowing that he had a few more reasons to not want Sam to research and possibly meet his birth parents. What if Sam decided that they weren't so bad? Dean didn't want to be replaced by some piss poor excuse for a parent who hadn't had a care in the world about what happened to their defenseless child. "Look, I'm tired, it's been a long day. We'll talk more in the morning alright?" Dean offered, hoping to God that a night in his warm, comfortable bed would help the pain go away.

"Yeah, alright." Sam conceded. "Night Dean." He said watching his brother walk down the hall with wary eyes. Dean really hadn't looked like he was okay at all.

* * *

Hey, so how was the chapter? Hopefully it wasn't too awful. Thanks again for reading! I'll try to post another when I can and I would seriously love to hear from all of you right about now. Thanks again! :)


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys! Here's the next chapter and I hope you all enjoy it. I know that Kate and Rachel play a pretty big part in this chapter and I hope that their scenes make sense and you understand why they were so crucial. I promise there will be more brother time next chapter... Sam and Dean have a lot to discuss! Also, I was wondering just how far you all think Sam and Kate's relationship should progress, physically that is. Should they have sex? Yes or no and why please. I'm trying to figure it out and would love to have your guy's input!

I have another question, have any of you ever been to a convention? I'm going to one in January (it looks like a lot of fun and I'm SUPER excited!) but I was wondering what to expect and all of that sort of stuff. Thanks for reading! I can't wait to hear back from all of you. :)

* * *

"So, did you have fun today?" Kate asked as she turned to face Sam who was lying on his back on the blanket that they had spread out for their picnic. The two of them had just gone for a couple hour hike followed by a picnic at the local state park. It was cool and crisp out but Kate didn't mind the fact that they were starting to have cold weather. She had just wanted to spend some time with her favorite guy and Sam had chosen hiking as the activity that he wanted to do this weekend and she was glad to be able to do it with him.

Sam smiled, turning to face his girlfriend. "Of course," He replied. "Did you?" He asked sitting up and snagging a couple of chips from the bag nearby. He was glad to be out with her today seeing as how stressed he had been ever since he had mentioned that he wanted to find his birth parents to Dean. Hiking through the woods had been a nice chance for him to just relax and focus on something other than his worries.

Kate nodded. "I always have fun when I'm with you." Both of them laughed at the slight cheesiness of that statement before genuine smiles appeared on their faces. Kate moved so she was sitting next to Sam, leaning against him. She sighed contently when she felt Sam wrap his arms around her waist and she covered his hands with hers. "I'm glad you wanted to come here."

Sam smiled to himself, resting his head on top of Kate's enjoying the feeling of having her next to him. He had never before enjoyed sharing this kind of closeness with anyone before and the feelings that Kate stirred inside of him made him happy but they also scared him a bit too. "What am I gonna do without you?" He whispered, not even completely aware of the fact that he'd said anything out loud.

Pulling away from Sam's chest, Kate turned to look at Sam with a curious expression on her face. "What do you mean?" She asked, confused. "I'm not going anywhere."

Sam sighed as he drew his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around himself. "Never mind, it's not important." He answered, not wanting to discuss his worries right now. The contentment he had been feeling from their hike was fading and he didn't want to dwell on it.

Watching as Sam rested his head on top of his knees, Kate grew worried. She hadn't noticed it earlier in the day, probably because they were genuinely having a good time, but now that they were sitting down she could easily see the stress lines that were painted across his handsome face. "No, it's bugging you, I can tell. Sam, what is it?" She asked feeling concerned.

Sam sighed knowing that he was going to have to talk after all. "I just... what's gonna happen when you go off to college in a few months and I stay here?" He asked, worriedly chewing his bottom lip.

Kate stared at Sam for a moment before she lowered her gaze to the grassy area surrounding them. "Well, what do you want to have happen?" She finally asked a few moments later, her heart picking up speed as she hoped that Sam said he'd be willing to give long-distance a try. She knew that if they did decide to try a long-distance relationship that it wouldn't be easy but she wanted Sam as her boyfriend and she hoped that he still wanted her.

Sam shrugged as he didn't know the answer to that. He didn't want to say that he didn't want to break up and then have her go and say the opposite. Sure, he'd had his heart broken before but this... this was with someone who he had been emotionally invested in for a while and it scared the living daylights out of him.

"I know I'm leaving this town but I wasn't planning on leaving you." Kate offered when she saw the fear on Sam's face and suddenly, Sam's recent strange behavior made a whole lot more sense to her. "Oh Sam," Kate sighed as she once again moved so that she was kneeling in front of him. Gently she reached up and laid her hands on Sam's forearms. "You're my guy and I love you... when are you gonna get that?" Kate asked sadly knowing that Sam tended to feel insecure about their relationship if he thought that there was a chance for her to get someone better. Sam had freaked out the first time she had told him that she loved him claiming that they really didn't know each other well enough to know if they even liked each other, let alone love.

Sam swallowed thickly as he sniffled. "What if you meet someone while at college? I mean, there's a lot better guys out there than me. I mean, normal guys who can..." Sam got out before Kate interrupted him.

"Stop it Sam!" Kate ordered in a slightly harsher tone than she'd meant to use. She knew what Sam was referring to when he said 'normal guys'. It was a _discussion_ they'd had time and time again and to be honest, she was sick of it. Sam had often apologized to her for not being able to do everything, sexually, that what he claimed a normal boyfriend should be capable of after being together for just over a year. She understood though that sex was something that Sam was weary of and while she had her own needs and sometimes she wanted to push the envelope passed where they currently were, she wanted to do it when he was ready, not because of some sort of obligation he felt towards her. Truth be told, she was glad that he wasn't one of those guys who wanted to have sex right off the bat.

"Why? It's true," Sam spit out. "Do you remember how long it took me to let you touch me, Kate?" Sam shook his head self-depreciativly. "I'm sorry I'm so messed up."

Kate sighed as she shook her head, quickly tying her hair up as she tried to figure out just what the hell to say to her currently anxiety-ridden boyfriend. "Sam," She started taking one of his hands in hers and smiling softly at him. "You don't need to worry. I mean, I know I'll meet you new people and that you will too but I've got you... I don't want anybody else, I promise."

Sam looked up at her with tear-filled eyes. He wasn't sure that he completely believed her.

"Shh," She soothed as she scooted closer to him and let go of Sam's hand to wrap her arms around Sam. "Shh Sam, please don't cry." Kate's hands eventually found their way underneath the t-shirt Sam was wearing and she pressed a kiss to his cheek when she felt the bumpiness of his back. It had taken her a long time to convince Sam that not all touches were bad and even longer for Sam to take his shirt off in front of her. She had felt immensely victorious when Sam had walked out of Bobby's living room and into his backyard where the pool was, wearing nothing but his swim trunks. Granted everything that they had done thus far was above the waist, but Kate had felt happy knowing that Sam was slowly venturing out of his shell. "And for the record, I'm okay with the rate we're going." Kate smiled at Sam, this time leaning forward to kiss him on the lips trying to convince him that it had been the truth.

~DW/SW~

Sam woke the next morning around seven when his alarm went off, the annoying beeping sound drawing him from the rather pleasant dream he'd been having. Groaning sleepily, he reached his arm out as he fumbled, trying to find the button that would silence the annoying object. Still half asleep, Sam climbed out of bed and walked across the hall to the bathroom. Yawning and wishing that it was still a Saturday so that he wouldn't have to go to school, he turned the faucet on and proceeded to take a quick morning shower. He realized that he felt lighter than he had in a while this morning and he knew that part of it was due to the talk he'd had with Kate the previous afternoon. While he was still nervous about what it would be like to have her gone for several months at a time, he felt a little bit more reassured that she did want to continue to be with him.

"All yours Dean," He called, walking out of the bathroom and heading into his room with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Dean?" Sam asked when he realized that he hadn't heard his brother so much as grunt. Sure, Dean liked to sleep in but usually by now Sam would have heard some sort of noise coming from his brother's room. Hell, normally on week days Dean was the first one up and more often than not it would be the smell of his brother's cooking that would wake him rather than the sound of his alarm clock. Hurrying back to his own room as an uncalled for sense of worry filled him, Sam quickly pulled a pair of pajama pants on and rushed to his brother's room hoping that Dean was just getting a little too much sleep. _But he looked really sick the other night _Sam thought to himself remembering Dean's pale complexion.

"Dean," Sam questioned quietly as he opened his brother's bedroom door and walked over to where Dean was sprawled out on his stomach. He chewed his bottom lip nervously hoping that the only thing that would happen would be that Dean would chuck his pillow at him and tell him to go make his own breakfast. "Dean, wake up." Sam said giving Dean's shoulder a shove. His worry increased when he heard Dean let out a small pain-filled groan.

Spotting his brother's cell phone on the table, Sam picked it up and scrolled to Rachel's number. "I'm... I'm sorry to wake you up," He apologized, never once taking his eyes off of Dean's rather sick looking figure.

"Sam, what is it?" Rachel asked surprised after she'd answered the phone, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. It was strange to get a call from Dean at this hour... he was hardly ever awake enough to be able to call her and though she and Sam had each others numbers, it was rare for her to receive an actual call from him.

"It... it's Dean. I think there's something wrong with him." Sam explained. "He wasn't feeling well and now he won't wake up." Sam wasn't sure if this was an actual emergency or not but he didn't know what else to do.

Alarmed by Sam's response, she sat up and quickly pulled a sweatshirt over her head. Rachel held the phone with her shoulder as she snagged her keys and purse up off of the nightstand by her bed. "Call 911 and tell them exactly what you told me. I'm on my way." She promised though silently praying that Dean was going to be okay and that Sam was just over-reacting.

"Ok," Sam breathed shakily, hanging up the phone and then quickly dialing the number for emergencies. "I... I need an ambulance to 424 Coleman Avenue. My brother won't wake up." Sam told the dispatcher, relaying the information while still trying to rouse Dean.

A few minutes later, Sam heard a key in the door and realized that Rachel had made it there. He was glad that she was there since he now wouldn't have to be alone when the paramedics arrived.

"Has he woken up?" Rachel asked causing Sam to shake his head no. She walked briskly into her boyfriend's room and over to the bed, immediately checking Dean's pulse, relieved when she did indeed feel a steady, if not slow, beat beneath her fingers."Hey, he's gonna be okay." Turning her head to look up at Sam for a moment, she saw how immensely frightened he looked and she really wanted to reassure Sam. He was one of her favorite people around... well, besides Dean of course.

"Why won't he wake up?" Sam asked. "I mean, all he said was that it had been a long day and..." Sam drifted off, his eyes widening. _What if I caused this?_ He wondered. _I mean, he already didn't feel well and then we argued..._

"I don't know but that's why the paramedics are on their way." Rachel replied, trying to keep a level head for the two of them. "Sammy, go stand outside and wait for them. When they get here, bring 'em back here alright?" She instructed.

Sam paused as he stared at his brother. He didn't want to leave Dean... what if something happened and he got worse?

"Sam, go!" Rachel ordered when she realized that they could hear sirens getting closer.

Snapping out of it, Sam nodded and raced down the hall, throwing the front door wide open. "He's back here!" He shouted to the paramedics who were just climbing out of the ambulance now.

~DW/SW~

About an hour later, Sam, Rachel, Sean and Mike were all sitting in a waiting room at the local hospital hoping that a doctor would come talk with them soon. Sam was curled up on a section of chairs, his head pillowed on his folded arms as he tried to block everyone out. He had been in this very hospital less than a month ago waiting for news on another family member, another person who had come to mean so much to him and he was absolutely terrified that this visit would end the same way. Rachel was sitting on a chair not far away from him with a cold cup of coffee in her hands. Mike was busy pacing the inside of the small room as he felt extremely claustrophobic at the moment... this all felt too much like a repeat of what had happened with his dad. Sean was sitting beside Rachel and Sam knew that his friend was watching him closely but he tried to ignore it.

Suddenly the swinging doors opened and an older man entered the room wearing a pair of blue scrubs. "Family of Dean Winchester?" He asked scanning the room and causing the four of them to jump up from their seats.

"Yes, that's us." Dean hadn't wanted to put the responsibility of his medical care on his kid brother's shoulders and had asked both Mike and Rachel if they would be willing to take that on. Both of them had readily agreed.

The doctor looked between Sam and Sean, silently asking the two guardians if they should move somewhere more private.

"It's fine, this is his brother and Sean's a good friend. You can talk." Mike reassured knowing that they were all anxious to find out what was wrong with Dean.

"Very well then," The doctor nodded. "I'm Dr. Wong and I'm the one who examined Mr. Winchester when he was brought in this morning." Hearing that the young teenager amongst the group was his patients brother, the doctor turned to Sam. "Can you tell me if your brother appeared sick last night or in the past couple of days?" He asked.

Sam nodded. When he had gotten home from his hike with Kate, Sam had gone looking for Dean only to find him fast asleep in his room. He had come out a few hours later but had almost immediately gone straight back to bed, claiming that his stomach was bothering him and it was a 'make-it-yourself-dinner'. "He was really tired last night and he didn't look so good. He said his stomach hurt." Sam replied taking an unconscious step towards Rachel. He hoped that whatever he had to say would help the doctor help Dean.

The doctor nodded and then looked over the entire group. "It appears that Mr. Winchester has a case of appendicitis and he is undergoing surgery right now. I expect him to be under for at least another hour and then he will be moved to a room on the recovery floor where he will be monitored and then if all looks good, he will be transferred to his own room." The doctor explained causing Sam to look at his friends. He wasn't sure how serious this situation was since the doctor had mentioned that Dean was currently undergoing surgery but he hadn't said that Dean had almost died or something. "Do you have any questions?" Dr. Wong asked after he'd updated them.

"No, thank you," Rachel smiled gratefully as she shook hands with the man before turning to face Sam. She could still see the anxiety that was written clear across his face and she hoped that she would be able to help him relax a bit though she figured that Sam wouldn't completely calm down until he saw his brother again. Truth was, she felt the same way. "That's good news Sam, that means he's going to be okay. They just had to take his appendix out and it probably could have been done sooner but well, you know Dean..." She drifted off, smiling just the slightest as relief filled her that yes, indeed Dean was going to be alright. Gently laying her hands on Sam's shoulders, she guided him back to the chairs that they had vacated just a few moments earlier.

"He's... he's going to be okay?" Sam asked, still sounding shocked.

Rachel nodded. "Yeah, he should be fine." She reassured as Mike and Sean walked over to where the two of them were sitting.

"You said it could have been caught sooner? He's been sick the past few days... I... I just thought he was tired, ya know? I swear I didn't know he was sick." Sam cried, guilt filling up inside him.

"Sam, don't cry. I didn't think he was sick either... just overworked." Sean tried, not wanting the kid to feel guilty for something that was beyond his control.

Sam just wiped at his face and nodded as he glanced at the clock wishing that a nurse or someone would come tell him that he could go see Dean for himself.

Rachel watched as Sam folded in on himself and sighed softly. She knew that Dean had been stressed, tired, and overworked lately but one thing that he had always stressed to her was that he never wanted to be the cause of Sam's pain, ever. _I've gotta get him to see that Dean's a big boy and if he's not feeling well, then he has to take care of himself... not leave it up to Sam _She thought hoping that somehow, they would manage to get Sam to see that. "Hey, I'm kind of hungry. Think you two can run down and grab me a sandwich or something?" Rachel asked as she directed her gaze at Sean and Mike, silently telling them that she wanted to have a few moments alone with Sam.

"Yeah sure," Sean responded before he looked over at Sam. "What do you want kid?"

Sam shrugged. He wasn't really all that concerned with food right now.

"Breakfast burrito it is." Mike chose when Sam didn't say anything. "We'll be back soon."

Rachel nodded and watched as Sean and Mike headed towards the elevator at the end of the hall. "Sammy," She started as she bent her head, trying to make eye contact with the teenager. It wasn't often that she or really, anyone besides Dean would call him that but occasionally when either they were joking around or if she and Dean were trying to reassure him of something, it would slip out. "You can't blame yourself for this."

"He takes care of me, why can't I take care of him?" Sam asked, frowning as he looked up at Rachel.

"You do take care of him Sam, I'm not saying that you don't but you can't predicate anymore than Sean, Mike, or I could when the guy is gonna get sick... especially since Dean's not always all that forth coming, now is he?" She smirked.

Sam shook his head in agreement before he started picking at a stray thread on the cushion he was sitting on. "Still... I said something the other night and well..." He drifted off, unsure of how to explain it. Maybe if he hadn't brought it up then Dean wouldn't have shut off like he had.

"Sam, this was an internal medical condition... not anything caused by something you said to him." Rachel tried to rationalize. "What did you say?" She asked when Sam remained quiet.

Sam bit his lip and turned his head away. Should he tell her? Would she think he was stupid for wanting to do it or would she agree with Dean? Sam didn't know and he felt like he was back at square one trying to figure things out.

Rachel watched as Sam averted his gaze and sighed, knowing that the chances of Sam telling her what he had said to Dean were slim. She wasn't asking to be nosy, she was asking because she cared. Over the past year and a half that she and Dean had been dating, Sam had become like a little brother to her and she didn't like seeing him upset, especially for reasons that were not his fault. Besides that, she knew how close her boyfriend and his brother were... the two of them could be inseparable at times and unless you were completely stupid, it was easy to tell that they would always have each others backs. "Whatever it was Sam, I'm sure it's something that can be fixed." She couldn't see the two of them spewing words so hateful or angry at each other that their relationship was ruined.

Sam nodded, looking up when he heard the sound of footsteps getting closer. He couldn't help but feel disappointed when it turned out to be Sean and Mike returning with their late breakfasts.

~DW/SW~

It was another hour before a nurse walked into the waiting room and announced that it would now be alright if Dean had visitors. No one put up any sort of argument when it was decided that Sam would go first... they all knew how much Sam needed to see with his own eyes that yes, indeed Dean was going to be okay. The small group walked down the hall to where Dean's room was located and then they all paused outside the door. "We'll wait out here if you need anything alright?" Mike smiled before Sam nodded and stepped inside the room.

Pausing by the door, Sam stood nervous unsure if he should approach the bed where his brother lay or keep his distance.

"You gonna come say hi or just stand there?" Dean asked in a soft, raspy voice startling Sam a little.

Tear-filled hazel eyes looked across the room to lock on Dean's pale but slightly healthier frame, reclining on the bed and propped up by pillows. Sam's chin wobbled as he took faltering steps towards his brother finally ending up beside the bed, his hands coming to rest on the sidebar.

"Hey, I'm okay, promise." Dean smiled weakly when he saw the tears in Sam's eyes. Knowing his brother as well as he did, he knew that Sam had to have been scared shitless and he silently cursed himself for that. He honestly hadn't meant to scare Sam... or anyone for that matter. Hell, he hadn't even thought he was that sick.

Sam nodded, biting the inside of his cheek to try to keep from crying. "I'm sorry," He sobbed, his shoulders shaking.

"Sam, don't be sorry... you didn't do anything." Dean reassured, looking up at his brother with earnest eyes. "Here, lower the rail." He instructed sensing that Sam needed more than just words right now. Sam did as Dean told him and took a seat on the edge of the bed, his face still streaked with tears. "Come here," Dean smiled softly, motioning for Sam to crawl closer. Still remembering that he had stitches across his abdomen, Dean hugged Sam gently rubbing his brother's back. "Shh, Sammy, shh... it's gonna be alright."

Sam gripped tight to the hospital supplied gown Dean was wearing concentrating on the steady thump-thump of his brother's heart. He remembered another time when he had needed to hear the proof that there was still life inside his brother... that he hadn't been forced to say goodbye prematurely and though the circumstances were different now, he had still felt the same kind of fear. Sam kept his face buried in Dean's shoulder as he let out all of the worry, fear, and anxiety he had felt since earlier that morning.

"It's gonna take more than appendicitis to take your big bro out, alright?" Dean smiled, brushing a hand over Sam's cheek once he had finally pulled back.

Sam nodded, still shaking but this time more from relief than fear. "Still, if you're not feeling well then why didn't you say anything?" Sam asked wondering why Dean had tried to hide it from him... or well, okay so he knew why but still. Dean could always spot whenever he was coming down with something and made him sit tight until he got better. Shouldn't it be the other way around too?

Dean shrugged. "Didn't think anything was wrong." He stated honestly.

Sam huffed at his big brother and glared at him. "Then pay more attention!" Sam lectured.

"Okay, point taken." Dean conceded. "Where's ah..." He asked drifting off as Sam nodded.

"They're all outside... let me come in first." Sam explained before drifting off and lowering his gaze to the hospital room floor. "I am sorry though." Sam started. "I didn't mean to hurt you or... or make you upset. I'm just curious but if you really don't want me to then I won't look into it." Sam said quietly. It didn't mean he wasn't curious and didn't want to know anymore but Dean was more important than the people he hadn't been important enough for.

Dean watched as Sam turned to face the other way and he knew Sam that wouldn't look into his past, not if he didn't want him to but he could still see the want in Sam's hazel eyes but he wasn't sure what to do. Sighing, Dean let it go for now and the two of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Sam stood up from the bed. "I'll um... I'll go tell the others they can come in." Sam mumbled before he headed out the door, leaving Dean lying in the bed wondering just what the hell to do.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door and then Rachel stuck her head in the door. "Care for some company?" She asked, smiling softly.

Dean smiled back. "Company sounds good to me."

"Good, cause you're gonna get it whether your want it or not." She replied stepping into the room and closing the door behind her. She walked over to the bed and kissed Dean gently before lightly swatting him on the back of the head.

"Hey! Sick guy here!" Dean pouted as he rubbed the back of his head. "What was that for?"

"For being an idiot!" Rachel shot back, pinning Dean with a look that he knew meant business. "Do I really have to explain to you that when you're sick, take care of yourself not keep working? And for the record, you scared the crap out of all of us."

"I know and seriously, that was not my intention." Dean replied.

"Yeah well you did... when Sam called me this morning and said you wouldn't wake up... I near had a heart attack, thank you very much." Rachel huffed.

"He called you?" Dean asked feeling surprised.

Rachel nodded. "Yup, and he was terrified."

Dean nodded as he became quiet.

Rachel shifted on the bed and leaned forward again. "I'm glad you're okay but please babe, take care of yourself. You do such a good job protecting those around you but sometimes you gotta look out for yourself too." Her green eyes shown with concern and Dean nodded, not wanting her to worry. "I don't mean to meddle in what isn't my business but well, Sam brought it up and I think you should know..."

"Brought what up?" Dean asked with concern written across his face though he thought that he could probably guess.

"He was scared that he had been the one who had hurt you. He said that you guys had a fight and he was worried that he caused this." Rachel explained, feeling like Dean should know just what kind of a mindset Sam had been in for the last couple of hours.

"Shit," Dean cursed, wincing a little as he moved in a way that pulled on his stitches.

"You okay?" Rachel asked, noticing the look of discomfort on Dean's face.

"Hmm, yeah." He grimaced before he finally stopped shifting on the bed. "Sam and I... he wanted to talk about some stuff and so we did and well, I didn't exactly like what I heard so I got mad at him." Dean explained even though Rachel hadn't asked him to.

"What did he say?" Rachel asked, sensing that this was one of those rare occasions where Dean did want to talk.

"He wants to find his birth parents." Dean gritted out, still far from okay with the idea.

"Oh," Rachel responded, surprise in her voice. She hadn't been expecting that. "Did he say why?"

Dean nodded. "Yeah, he said that he's just curious about where he came from and he wants to know but the thing is Rach, those people... they... they abandoned him in favor of beer cans and God knows what else. They... I don't trust them." He finished and Rachel thought that sounded both reasonable and like a 'Dean' thing to say... what with his pitbull personality and all.

Dean knew that Sam was no longer a helpless two year old forced to rely on incapable people to take care of his needs but still... Sam still needed guidance, protection, and love and he knew that these people were hardly able to provide any of those three things. What if Sam found them and they didn't want to meet him? Or what if they did meet him and said awful, hurtful things? Dean was worried about all of that but if he wasn't lying, he'd admit that the thing he was afraid of the most was that they would want to meet Sam and somehow, for some reason, his brother might actually like them. What then?

"Babe, I see what you're saying... I do." Rachel started, knowing that this conversation could easily go south very fast. "But I think you need to stop looking at it like that."

"What? He's... I gotta... I gotta look out for him." Dean argued.

"You can but isn't looking out for him also part of supporting him?" Rachel asked. "Look Dean, think if you were Sam, wouldn't you want to know about where you came from and all of that? I don't... I don't think he's doing this to hurt you or anything but like you said, he's curious. He doesn't have any memories of them right?" Rachel asked.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, he doesn't remember them... which I guess is a good thing." Sam had enough memories of living with troubled people so Dean figured that if two years weren't remembered then fine.

"Exactly, he probably doesn't know much of anything and now he wants to figure it out. Sam's a smart kid and pretty capable too... he'll figure out what he wants to do. You just gotta let him." Rachel explained.

"What if he likes them?" Dean asked sounding unusually insecure.

Rachel sighed as she gently laced one of her hands with Dean's. "I don't think that you have to worry about him leaving you suddenly or anything." Rachel continued knowing just how much her boyfriend valued family and that Sam was an incredibly important part of that.

Dean looked up at his girl, silently asking how she knew that.

Rachel laughed a little. "Sam adores you and you know that so don't worry... I highly doubt you're gonna be replaced. Besides, who is to say that he's going to find anything at all?" She asked knowing that sometimes when people looked for relatives, they didn't find much other than a death certificate.

"I just don't want him to get hurt." Dean whispered as he clenched his jaw shut because seriously, hadn't the kid been hurt enough to last a couple of lifetimes. He didn't feel like letting an alcoholic and a drug addict have another shot at it.

"That's why he needs you if he's gonna do this." Rachel encouraged, knowing that whatever the results of this possible search were that Sam would benefit from having Dean with him.

Dean nodded, adding Rachel's arguments into the silent debate going on in his head.

"Think about it alright? And try to see things from his side of it." She finished before she leaned forward and kissed him again. "I love you."

Dean smiled, tilting his head up slightly. "I love you too." He replied before a yawn slipped out of him. "Will you ah, send Mikey and Sean in please?"

Rachel nodded. "Sure but you Mister, look like you're ready to fall asleep so no brewing trouble, alright?" She teased, winking at him as she headed to the door.

"Yes Ma'am," Dean saluted in a mocking tone of voice.

Rachel laughed and headed back out into the hall, ready to send in the last two members of their little team.

Dean put his head back on the pillow, waiting for Sean and Mike to come give him what for for not being smart enough to realize when something was wrong. Looking at the closed door, Dean thought about what Rachel had had to say. He could see where she was coming from and decided that he would store that information away for later, knowing that he and Sam were going to have to have another talk after he got back home.

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Hey! So how was that? I hope you enjoyed it and am looking forward to your reviews! I'll try to update soon. Thanks again! :)


	9. Chapter 9

Hey! So I finally managed to get the last portion of the chapter written. I think the reason why it took me so long was because for a while I didn't like the way it was going and just didn't really know how to fix it... hopefully it ended up turning out okay.

Thank you for hanging in there and waiting so patiently! I really appreciate it and I have a small favor to ask, I'm not really super sure on how one would go about trying to find family members like Sam's doing so if anyone has any info that they'd be willing to share, I'd love to hear it! I'm also going to try and do a little bit of research but hearing from you guys if you know anything would be very helpful.

**Thanks again!** I will try to update as soon as I can, hopefully within the next two weeks. I hope you all enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Sam impatiently unlocked the front door of his and Dean's house with his key before stepping aside to allow his brother to enter first. Even though Dean had been released from the hospital this morning, technically into his own care, Sam was determined to look after him to the best of his ability. The same exact way that he knew Dean would look after him if their positions had been reversed. _He already has done this _Sam thought to himself knowing that Dean had essentially being looking after him ever since the first moment they met. Now, it was his turn to repay the favor. "Are you hungry? I could make us lunch?" He asked watching as Mike walked inside the house and shut the door behind him.

"Yeah, real food sounds great," Dean quipped as he made his way to the couch, sitting down and kicking his feet up onto the coffee table. Hospital food was about as appealing as licking dirt off of a basement floor and he had been eating that tasteless crap for the past couple of days. Oh, what he wouldn't do for a burger right about now. Or a shower.

"Okay, I'll be right back," Sam hurried into the kitchen and began to fix up a quick but satisfying lunch for the three of them, making Dean's first. "Here and ah, they said you needed to take these too." Sam reminded his brother as he placed two antibiotic pills down on a napkin next to a glass of water.

"Thanks Sam," Dean smirked a little as he picked up the glass of water and pills. Despite what his brother seemed to believe, he had been present when the doctors had relayed the instructions about what it was that he needed to do when he got home and over the next couple of days. _He's just worried about you_ Dean thought, resigning himself to allowing the kid to mother-hen him.

Sam nodded and then returned to the kitchen to make his and Mike's lunch. Sam was practically giddy with excitement at the fact that Dean was home now and out of the hospital. He thought that hospitals were damn scary places and home was safety and the fact that Dean had made it out of there... he was starting to feel relieved for the first time in a few days. Everybody had been telling him that Dean was going to be fine all along but he hadn't actually believed them until the doctor had given them the all clear for Dean to be released. After all, look at how close Bob had come to going home... _Dean's in a different situation _Sam reminded himself, shaking himself a little to try and get rid of the sadness that still gripped him whenever he thought about the man.

Sam looked up when he heard a loud bang and saw Ace jumping up against the backdoor. "Hold on Ace, I'll feed you in a few minutes." He called out to his dog, smiling a little when Ace barked at him, almost seeming like he was actually talking to him and telling him to hurry it up.

~DW/SW~

"How's Dean doing?" James asked the next day as he and Sam walked down one of the many halls of their school on their way to Sam's English AP and his Chemistry class.

Sam smiled softly as he thought about how grumpy Dean had been this morning. Sean had ordered Dean to take one day off of work just to relax before he came back and Dean wasn't happy about it. Dean had stated that he was the boss of the shop and that his employees couldn't order him around but when he had been faced with a very serious little brother, best friend, girlfriend, and co-worker... well, they hadn't left him much of a choice. "He's annoyed that he's not allowed to go back to work yet," Sam replied, knowing that Dean had no choice but to behave himself and obey them.

James laughed a little and nodded. "When can he go back?" He asked.

"Tomorrow, we made him stay home for the day." Sam answered with a little bit of a cheeky smile on his face. "But I'm just glad he's out of that place you know," Sam added as an unconscious shiver worked its way through him.

"Yeah dude, that is really good to hear," James encouraged, knowing how worried Sam had been about Dean, especially after what had happened to Bob. Coming to a stop outside of Sam's classroom, he paused and shrugged his backpack up a little higher on his shoulders. "Well, I guess I'll see ya at lunch," He smiled before he walked down the hall and turned the corner.

Sam nodded and headed into his class, taking his normal seat by one of the rear windows. While he had come to actually enjoy quite a few of his studies over the past couple of years, he was still a bit hesitant to bring the spotlight onto himself and he preferred to sit where he could see the other students without them being able to really see him. A few minutes later, the final bell rang and like always, it didn't really do much in the way of making the class actually quiet down.

"Afternoon class," Sam's English teacher, Mrs. Battey smiled as she waited for her class to settle down. The forty-something woman stood from behind her desk and walked around to stand in front of it. "So, I have your tests graded and I'll give those back to you at the end of class." She knew that handing their papers back early could lead to them not paying attention and with what she had planned for today, she needed it. Turning around, Mrs. Battey picked a stack of papers up from her desk and walked over to the far left corner of the room. "Take one and pass it back please?" She asked.

The girl nodded and passed the stack to the boy sitting behind her.

"So you all heard at the beginning of the year that you were going to have a research project due at the end of the semester. Well, this is it," She smiled. "I want all of you to research your family history and then write a paper on an organization that you believe has been beneficial to your family and why. You will all also be doing a short presentation in front of the class."

Sam heard his teacher explain the project and sighed. _Terrific!_ He thought sarcastically as he wondered just how he would be able to do this project. Dean still didn't really talk much about Mary and John and well, there was little that he knew about his biological parents. But when he thought about it further, he knew that neither one of those groups were his family and never would be. _My family's just the two of us... does that count?_ He asked himself but feeling a little too shy to ask his teacher, especially in front of the class like this.

"And to help all of you generate ideas, let's have a discussion. After all, what makes a family? Is it the people or is it something deeper than that?" She asked and the class started to turn their desks inwards so that everyone was facing each other for the class discussion. "Now before you all begin chatting, let's just remember to be mature and everyone here is entitled to their own opinion. I don't want to hear any kind of inappropriate or disrespectful remarks, is that clear?" She asked, waiting for the class to respond back affirmatively. They all knew that their pretty easy-going and laid-back teacher didn't put up with disrespectful behavior from anyone. "Great, now what do you guys think?"

Sitting slumped in his seat, Sam watched as a girl raised her hand. "Well, I think a family's like you know... Leave it to Beaver with the mom and dad and kids," She answered causing Mrs. Battey to write that down on the board. "That's what automatically comes to my mind when I think of family."

"Okay, so we've got the traditional family with two point five kids and a dog, what else is there?" She asked, wanting to hear more of their opinions.

"Yeah but what if the kids are adopted or something?" Another student asked and Sam internally cringed, hoping that no one would look his way. It wasn't that he was ashamed of being adopted, quite the opposite actually... he just didn't want this class discussion to become a discussion about him.

"Okay so we have the traditional family with kids, parents with adopted children. Who else is there?" Mrs. Battey questioned wanting to know if her students could get a bit more abstract than just the traditional definition or not.

"Well, I've got an aunt whose gay and lives with her partner and they've got kids, they're a family." Sam's classmate, Rose, said and smiling a little when Mrs. Battey added 'gay and lesbian headed households' to their list.

"My family has my grandparents living with us," Another girl offered.

"Great so we also have extended family members living under one roof," Ms. Battey smiled. "Any other ideas of family?"

"There's single-parent families too," Sam added, speaking in a soft tone of voice. He knew that he and Dean weren't the classic single-parent structure but Dean was his parent, the only responsible parental figure he had ever had so that had to count for something, right?

"Thanks Sam," Mrs. Battey smiled kindly knowing that Sam didn't speak up often even though he usually had great ideas and things to contribute to the class.

Sam blushed and nodded, ducking his head a bit and listening as his class continued the discussion. Sam also realized that there was another form of family that no one in his class had listed and he didn't want to bring them up... after all, they might by definition be legally considered to be a family structure but it sure hadn't felt like one to him.

~DW/SW~

"Hey, I'm home," Sam called as he walked in the front door a few hours later. He frowned when he didn't see Dean any where and the TV was off. _He better be here_ Sam thought to himself knowing that Dean had promised him he'd stay home and relax today. Plus, he was pretty damn sure that Sean would have sent Dean right back home if he had tried to go into work. "Dean?"

"Kid, relax, I was just taking a leak," Dean smiled softly and shaking his head a little as he emerged from the hall. Ever since he had come home from his short stay at the hospital yesterday, Sam had been on him constantly.

Sam nodded, taking his backpack off and leaving it by the door. "Sorry," He muttered hoping that Dean wasn't getting annoyed with his hovering. He couldn't help it... he had been worried and he guessed that he still was.

"It's alright, I mean I'm the one you learned it from," Dean replied knowing that he had hovered over Sam plenty in the recent years. It wasn't any wonder that Sam had learned how to be so good at it.

Laughing a little, Sam nodded. "Yeah, I guess I can blame it on you, hunh?" He teased, walking to the refrigerator and taking a look inside.

"We don't have much... I gotta go to the store later," Dean interjected as he leaned gently against the counter.

"I can do that," Sam offered, closing the refrigerator and turning to face his older brother. "I'll go after work."

"If you want," Dean conceded knowing that it was just Sam trying to do as much to help out as possible. Grabbing an advertisement for a new store in town that they didn't need, Dean turned it over and began to make out a list of the things they needed. "So how was school?" Dean asked.

Sam shrugged, looking away. "Nothing new," He answered choosing not to tell Dean about the project or their discussion in English on families and what constituted as a family. They didn't need to have that argument again.

"And pick up whatever you want for dinner tomorrow night too." Dean instructed when he handed Sam the piece of paper.

"Okay," Sam agreed, folding the paper up and stuffing it in his pocket. "I guess I'll see you later then." He gave his brother a small smile and then headed out the front door and Dean couldn't help but feel like there was still some tension between them.

~DW/SW~

"Hey Sam," Caitlin greeted when Sam walked in the front door of the shelter. The badge that they had given him the last time he'd come to work was clipped to one of the belt loops on his jeans, displayed proudly.

"Hey," Sam smiled as he headed back to the room where they kept all of the dog leashes and supplies. He was glad to be back here, be back at work and he kind of got why Dean was annoyed that they hadn't let him do the same. It was nice to have something to do that you were good at and made you happy and Sam was finding that he really enjoyed working with these animals. His co-workers were pretty nice too and he was finding that it was becoming easier for him to be relaxed.

Just as Sam exited the small room, a woman walked in through the front doors. She was carrying a cardboard box and looking around, obviously trying to find someone. "I just found them," The woman said as she carefully set the box down on the counter once Caitlin had walked over to her. Sam couldn't help but notice how worried the woman looked and it made him wonder just what was inside the box.

_Kittens!_ Sam realized when he heard faint meowing coming from inside the brown cardboard.

"Oh wow, um Sam I'm gonna need you to go in the back and bring out a couple of blankets." Caitlin nodded to him and Sam quickly hurried to get the needed supplies. "Thanks, here let's see how you little guys are doing." Caitlin opened a drawer in her desk and pulled out a pair of gloves before reaching into the box and gently lifting one of the kittens out.

The kitten that Caitlin had picked up was incredibly tiny. It had white and orange markings all over its little body and Sam could see that there was also a good amount of gunk in its eyes.

"Where abouts did you find them?" Caitlin asked as she gently stroked the kitten's fur, trying to do a quick assessment. Pinching her fingers together, she tried to catch a flea that she could see running down the kitten's back. "Can you also go fill up a small bowl with some milk? I bet they're hungry." Caitlin also wanted to find out if the kittens would drink, the one she was holding looked a bit better off than some of the others, especially one little kitten who was curled up in a corner of the box, away from his brothers and sisters.

"Just off of San Andreas, their mother... she had been hit by a car," The woman added sadly.

"Shh, it's okay. We're gonna take care of you guys and aren't you just a little cutie!" Caitlin watched as Sam walked over, carefully carrying a small bowl about half full with milk. "Here, let's see if you'll drink this." She encouraged setting the small kitten down on her desk. He walked a bit uncoordinated before finally making it to the milk bowl and beginning to lap it up.

Seeing that Sam was paying attention to the one kitten, Caitlin very carefully reached in and picked up the kitten who had been curled up in the corner of the box, not wanting to injure him or her anymore than they apparently already were. She tried to smile reassuringly when Sam looked up at her, over the past few weeks she and the other employees had noticed how Sam seemed to pay the most amount of attention to the animals who either weren't that popular or just weren't doing so well.

The kitten barely opened its eyes and let out a soft, almost sickly meow. "Okay," Knowing that all of the kittens needed to get checked out by a vet but this one especially, Caitlin looked around spotting Chris outside in one of their dog pens. Motioning for him to come inside, she turned back to the woman who had brought in the kittens. "Thanks for bringing them to us, we'll make sure that they get taken care of." She reassured.

The woman nodded. "Would you mind if I left my name and number... I'd really like to know if they are going to be okay or not."

"Of course," Caitlin nodded and reached for a pen and her notepad that was on her desk so that the lady could write her information down.

"What's going on?" Chris asked once he'd stepped back inside.

Glancing at the paper to find out the woman's name, Caitlin started to explain what had happened. "Teresa here found some kittens on the side of the road and brought them in. The mother had been hit by a car."

"Want me to take 'em to Tom?" Chris asked, smiling softly as he pet the kitten that Caitlin had originally taken out of the box.

Caitlin nodded. "Yeah, I think these guys need to get checked out, especially this one." The kitten she was holding was gray and white and his eyes still weren't open. Sam could see that he was the skinniest of the bunch and he felt himself growing more and more worried about the small cat.

"Alright, you wanna come with me?" Chris asked turning to Sam as Caitlin put the worrisome kitten back in the box.

"Ah," Sam did want to go with him but he still had to walk the dogs and such so he wasn't sure if he was allowed to go.

"Why don't you go ahead and go with him?" Caitlin suggested when she saw the hesitation on Sam's face. "You can walk the dogs when you get back."

"Okay," Sam replied and then followed Chris out to the other man's 4x4.

Waiting until Sam climbed into the passenger seat, Chris then placed the box of kittens on Sam's lap. "Hold 'em steady, alright?" Seeing that Sam had a secure grip on them, Chris shut the passenger side door and headed around to the driver's side.

Sam glanced up from the box of kittens to Chris and sighed, hoping that Tom would be able to help the poor little critters. "Hold on guys, we're gonna get all of you help," Sam murmured to the box of kittens on his lap.

"Hmmhm," Chris murmured in agreement. Chris was in his late twenties as far as Sam could tell with red hair and a short beard. He seemed nice, even if sometimes he was a little too hyper but Sam liked working with him which was saying something, he guessed.

A few moments later, they pulled up in front of the vet's office and Chris led the way inside. "Hey Darcy," He said walking up to the counter and watching as Sam gently set the box down.

"What do you guys got for us?" Darcy asked, knowing that whenever Chris walked into their office with a box, it always contained a sick or injured animal. She smiled, surprised, when she saw Sam. "Hey Sam, what are you doing with this guy?"

"We work together." Sam answered, smiling a little.

"Awesome," Darcy congratulated. She knew Sam from him and Dean bringing Ace to Tom's office and it didn't surprise that he was working with animals. He had always struck her as _that_ type of person. Turning back to Chris, she pushed back the office chair she had been sitting in and stood.

"Kittens, they were found on the side of the road... they look pretty new." He explained as Darcy walked out from behind the counter. Both Sam and Chris noticed the worried expression that appeared on her face when she saw them and they hoped that it didn't mean the news was bad. "Aw, you guys need some help don't ya," She said sweetly. "We'll look 'em over and then give you guys a call, tell ya how they're doing."

"Thanks," Both Sam and Chris replied gratefully before they headed back out to Chris's car. Both were hoping that pretty soon, the shelter would have some new healthy kittens to put up for adoption.

~DW/SW~

"So, you wanna stay for dinner?" Kate asked as she and Sam laid side by side on her bed a few nights later.

"Sure," He answered, rubbing a hand over his eyes. Sam now felt mildly comfortable with her family as they did seem to like him. He remembered being terrified of her dad for the first several months after they had started dating and it hadn't been down to him thinking that the man might do something. No, Sam had been scared that the man would admit that he didn't approve of his relationship with his daughter and Sam wasn't sure how he would have reacted had that actually happened. Luckily it hadn't but Sam thought that it was a possibility that he would have rushed home and tried to avoid Kate at all costs for fear of being 'caught'. He was still a little nervous around her father but he also knew now that her parents weren't against their relationship.

Sitting up from the bed, Kate walked over to make sure her bedroom door was locked. The rule was that if the door was locked then the lights had to be on and if she and Sam were watching a movie then the door had to remain unlocked. It was kind of annoying but she figured that her parents could be worse.

Watching as Kate locked the door, Sam scooted over a little more so that he was closer to the wall. He smiled a little when she lied down on her side, facing him.

"So," Kate started off slowly.

"So what?" Sam asked.

"I just, I don't know... I keep thinking about what you said the other day. I mean, did you really think that I'd want to break up with you just like that?" She asked.

"You're the first girlfriend I've ever had... the first person I've ever been interested in," Sam replied, lowering his gaze a little. "I mean, you're completely awesome and I don't know... I guess I just got scared."

"Well, I seem to think you're pretty awesome yourself." Kate smiled brightly as she leaned forward to kiss him.

Sam wrapped his arms tighter around her, tugging Kate closer to himself. He was slowly, very slowly, getting braver with his touches but it was still Kate who usually initiated anything between them. "I'm glad you think so," He responded.

Kate smiled as they rolled over, both of them laughing a little when they bumped noses. Snuggling closer to her boyfriend, Kate pressed a quick kiss to Sam's neck.

Pulling back, Sam laid his head down on Kate's pillow and just stared silently at his girlfriend. It had taken Sam a while to walk into her bedroom. He hadn't wanted Kate's parents to think that the bedroom was the only reason why he ever came over and he, himself, just wasn't ready for that. Bedrooms, especially other people's could be a little scary he guessed. Sam knew that that was the room where other, normal people often chose to partake in certain activities and that thought had made him incredibly anxious to go any further in Kate's house than the bathroom.

"What ya thinking about?" Kate asked, speaking softly and not wanting to ruin the peaceful quiet in between them.

Sam shrugged. "Nothing really, just kind of happy right now I guess." Sam answered honestly. Kate did make him happy.

"Hmm, me too." Kate smiled, placing another soft kiss on Sam's lips. They were interrupted a few moments later when a knock sounded at the door. "Yeah?" Kate called.

"Mom says dinner's ready," Her sister explained through the door.

"Okay, we'll be out." Kate replied, smiling at Sam again for another few minutes before she finally sat up and fixed her slightly rumpled hair. "Come on," She gave Sam one last peck on the cheek and then the two of them headed down the hall to join Kate's younger sister, mom, and dad for dinner.

~DW/SW~

Trying to be as quiet as he could just in case his brother was asleep, Sam unlocked the front door and stepped inside the house. Yawning, he rubbed a hand across his eyes and began to shrug out of his jacket, walking further into the house.

"Sam?" He heard from the living room, making him pause. He hadn't really expected Dean to be out in the living room waiting for him. He thought he'd either be asleep because he was still recovering or in his room with Rachel.

"Hmm, yeah Dean?" Sam asked as he turned to walk into the dimly lit room instead of heading down the hall to his bedroom.

"You um... you have fun tonight?" Dean asked and Sam thought his brother seemed oddly nervous.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, we watched a movie and her mom made lasagna for dinner." Sam answered sitting down on the cushy chair nearby. "Where's Rachel?" He asked. It had taken Sam a while to be okay with the fact that occasionally Rachel stayed the night. At first Sam, had almost resented his brother for it feeling like this was their home and having someone over for a few hours was one thing but overnight... it had just made him feel weird. It didn't happen often though and he had come to accept that it was kind of a normal thing to do, especially for a young couple like Dean and Rachel.

"Ah, she went home." Dean explained. "I ah... I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" Sam asked as he wondered what else might be going on.

"What you said the other day... if you want me to, I'll give Linda a call in the morning and see if she can help us out at all." Dean suggested quietly. He still didn't like this but he had thought about it and tried to see it from his brother's point of view. He just hoped that this wasn't going to blow up in their faces.

Sam's eyes widened as he sat up. He had NOT been expecting that. "What... what made you change your mind?" He asked, stunned.

Dean shrugged. "I've been thinkin' about it and if it's something then you really want then I guess I can understand. I mean, you're a bright kid and it's not like you ask for a lot so I know that this is something that's gotta kind of mean a lot to you." Dean explained, casting a quick glance at his brother. Sighing, he rubbed the back of his neck. "There's just... there's gonna be some rules."

"Like what?" Sam asked with a tinge of excitement starting to grow inside of him.

"We do this together and if... if I don't think it's a good situation then... then we'll stop. I don't want you to get hurt." Dean emphasized causing Sam to nod. "And lastly, just whatever happens... don't forget about your big bro here, alright?"

Sam laughed a little. "I doubt that's gonna happen Dean... by the way, how ya feeling?" Sam asked, hoping that his brother was continuing to get better.

"I'm fine," Dean responded with a little bit of a stronger smile on his face now since he felt like just maybe this conversation was helping to get rid of some of the tension between the two of them.

Smiling, Sam stood and walked over to the couch. Leaning down, he wrapped his arms around Dean's neck and hugged him. "Thanks and yeah, you're right... this really does mean a lot to me." He said softly.

Nodding, Dean swallowed thickly as he returned the quick. "You're welcome kid," He pulled back, laughing when Sam yawned again. "I'll see you in the morning." He promised as he stood, cracking his back before he headed off to his own room.

* * *

Hey! So how was that? Hopefully all of it flowed well and made sense. Thanks again for reading! You guys are the BEST! I'll try to update ASAP. :)


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys, I hope everyone is enjoying the start of the new year... HAPPY 2011! Here's the next chapter and I hope it makes sense as far as Sam and Dean's differing emotions. Thanks for reading and I would love to hear back from all of you. I'll try to update as soon as I can since I'm still out of school for another few weeks. Thanks again! :)

* * *

Finishing the last bite of his ham, turkey, cheese, bacon, and avocado sandwich from the deli down the street, Dean stood up from his desk and tossed the paper wrapper into the trash bin. He took a swig of his soda as he reached for his cell phone, scrolling down to Linda's number. He hadn't talked to her in a while, not since all of their legal issues dealing with parental rites over Sam and such had been settled but he figured that she might have some clue as to where to start their search. Humming softly to himself, Dean sat and waited as it rung, leaving a message when she didn't pick up. "Hi Linda, it's Dean Winchester. Sam's decided that he wants to try and see if he can find his birth parents. I was hoping that you might be able to help us, or at least get us started so call me back when you can please? My number's (785) 788-5653. Thanks, talk to you later."

~DW/SW~

Later that night, Sam sat at the large desk in his room with his radio on low while he tried to make a dent in the rather annoying pile of homework that he had seemed to accumulate over the past week. Having finished the fill-out worksheets for his World History class, he closed the heavy textbook and put it to the side of his desk. He then leaned down and grabbed his binder off of the floor and searched through it, trying to find the paper that had the guidelines for his English project on it. Finding it in the back of the front pocket, he pulled it out and read down the sheet of instructions. The family history project had been assigned over a couple of weeks ago and Sam hadn't even started on it yet. He had been delaying it because to be honest, he wasn't even sure that he wanted to do the project. Logically, he knew he had to but he just wasn't feeling up to writing about that particular topic at the moment.

Twitching his nose and tapping his pencil against the edge of his desk, Sam tried to figure out how he could start it and what it was that he even wanted to say. He didn't want to come across as seeking pity or complaining but he feared that if he talked about his early life and the lack of family that he had experienced then that was exactly what it would turn out to be. Besides, the fact that he knew that he would have to present this to his class made him be a bit more wary about what he chose to include.

"I found my family when I was sixteen," Sam muttered quietly as he began to write. "It took me a while to realize it because I had come to believe that family wasn't something that would be in the cards for me. I was shocked when I figured out what was happening. See, you might ask why I hadn't figured it out before then but well, that's a long story." Sam sighed as he put his pencil down and sat back in his chair. He wasn't sure that he liked what he had come up with so far and reading it over, he shook his head before crumpling the piece of binder paper up in his hand. He grinned when he threw it and ended up making a basket in the trash bin. The sound of his cell phone buzzing broke Sam out of his stupor and he reached to answer it. "Hello?" He asked.

"Hey, it's me." Kate smiled through the other end of the phone.

"Hey, what's up?" Sam asked, standing from his desk and walking over to his bed to lie down to relax a bit. He figured that this was as good a time as any to take a break.

"Hmm, not much. I was just wondering what you were up to tonight, that's all." She questioned.

Sam laughed a little. He liked it when Kate would just randomly call him for no other reason than to just talk. "I'm having a blast." He answered sarcastically as he cast a fake glare over towards his desk and the remaining assignments he had to finish.

"And you didn't invite me? That's not fair." Kate pouted teasingly even though Sam couldn't see her.

"Somehow I don't think you want to work on World History homework or write that stupid paper," He responded, slipping one of his arms behind his head to act as a pillow.

"Yeah okay, I think I'll pass but you have fun." Kate laughed.

"Oh gee, thanks." Sam muttered, sighing a bit tiredly.

"So how is your paper coming?" Kate asked, her voice losing a bit of the humor and becoming a tad bit more serious. She knew that it wasn't exactly something that Sam was looking forward to doing. He had told her bits and pieces of what had happened to him but nothing too detailed and when he did say something, he didn't usually like to talk about it for long. Kate just hoped that Sam knew how much she cared about him, both as a friend and her boyfriend. She didn't know what the future had in store for the two of them but whatever it was, she just hoped he was happy. Sam was a good guy and a great friend; he was more than deserving of having a happy ending. Besides, she enjoyed their relationship the way it was now and she didn't want to rush either one of them into doing something.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know." He responded. "It's a little tricky."

"Yeah, that's understandable." Kate smiled softly. "So, you'll still go see that movie with me?"

Sam nodded. "Yeah sure. I'll pick you up after work?" He suggested.

Kate smiled again, this time a little brighter. Sam didn't often take control of their dates but on the occasions that he did, it helped to give her a glimpse of the guy behind all his shyness and hesitation. Hopefully, that confidence might one day help them get to experience other things... eventually. "Sure, when do you get off?" She asked.

"Ah... 5:30, I think." Sam answered after a moment.

"Yay," Kate squealed happily. "I'll see you tomorrow then, night handsome." Kate giggled, making Sam laugh too.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow, night." Sam smiled happily as he hung up the phone.

~DW/SW~

The next afternoon, Dean was just walking through the back door of the shop when his cell rang. Quickly juggling the items he was carrying, Dean reached into his pocket to tug his phone out. "Yeah," He answered, flipping it open and pressing the plastic to his ear without looking at the caller ID.

"Hey Dean, it's Linda. I just got your message." The social worker greeted.

"Oh yeah, ah thanks for calling me back." He responded as he headed into his office and shut the door for some privacy. It wasn't so much Sean he cared about overhearing the conversation, it was more the customers he was trying to keep it from. It just simply wasn't any of their business.

"So Sam's interested in finding his birth parents, is he?" She asked, taking a seat at her own desk.

"Yeah, he... ah, yeah." It was obvious from the tone of his voice that Dean still wasn't completely on board for this.

"I should tell you now Dean that there is a fairly good chance that he may not find what he's looking for." Linda explained, having heard the caution in Dean's voice. There were often cases of people looking for lost family members, such as siblings or parents or even children, and finding a death certificate or realizing that the person didn't want to be found all along. That wasn't to say that happy reunions didn't exist... they were just a bit more rare, was all.

"Yeah, I know." Dean sighed. A part of him wanted to call it quits right then and there but then he remembered the talk he'd had with his brother and how grateful Sam had looked when Dean had finally agreed. Sighing again, Dean knew that he couldn't, that he wouldn't go back on his word to the kid. "So, what do we do? How do we get this thing started?" He asked before he could change his mind again.

Briefly, Dean's questions and the quiet urgency in his voice reminded her of the first time they had met and how desperate Dean had been to help Sam... even back then. It was obvious that the older brother's devotion hadn't diminished at all. "It might be better if we spoke in person. Could you and Sam make it into the office sometime this week?" She asked since she also wanted to speak to Sam about it.

"Probably, let me talk to Sam and then I'll call you back." Dean responded, wondering if and kind of hoping that Sam would be busy over the next few days.

"Sure, I'll talk to you later then. Bye Dean." She replied.

"Bye Linda," Dean shook his head as he hung up the phone, continuing to wonder if he was doing the right thing. Clenching his jaw shut, Dean stood and walked out to the garage area of the shop. "Um, I gotta go do something but I'll be back in about an hour." He told Sean, ignoring the curious look his friend was giving him.

~DW/SW~

"Any word on the kittens?" Sam asked as he walked in through the side door of the shelter. He walked over to where all of the leashes for the dogs were kept and hung up the ones that he had just used.

Caitlin looked away from the food bowls she was filling and nodded. "Tom called and said that three of the four kittens are well on their way to recovery and once they get a little bigger, then they can be put up for adoption." She explained as she closed the cage door.

"What about the fourth one?" Sam asked, remembering the tiny kitten who had been the runt of the litter. He was happy that the majority of them were doing well and healing but he felt a bit like he could relate to the one who was struggling and he hoped that the little guy would be okay.

Caitlin looked at Sam with a sad smile. "He thinks that one might take a little while longer to get up to one hundred percent." She responded trying to be hopeful.

Sam nodded before he turned his attention to the next task he had to do.

~DW/SW~

Sitting in the Impala by the curb, Dean sighed and got out, his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He felt a little bit like he was forgetting or missing something since he hadn't stopped by the flower shop on his way over. Dropping his head a bit, Dean walked over to his parent's headstones. Kneeling in the grass, Dean leaned forward to brush the dirt and leaves off of the marble. Guilt filled him as he realized that it had been longer than he had anticipated since the last time that he had paid a visit to his parents. It wasn't intentional, he had just gotten caught up with running the shop and taking care of Sam.

Dean sat silently for several minutes before he wiped a hand over his jaw and sighed. "It's hard being a parent," He admitted as he moved to sit cross-legged in the grass. "And... and I'm not totally sure what to do... think you guys can help me out a little?" He asked, knowing that he wouldn't be getting an answer back. "Sam wants to find his parents, his biological parents," He corrected, feeling like the actual title was his and only his. "And I'm gonna let him... I said yes but I just, what if that wasn't the right choice? God, I just... the kid's been hurt over and over again... what if this is just another chance for that to happen?" Dean realized he was talking out loud to himself and to be honest, he didn't really care who heard him. He wanted to get this off his chest and who better to listen than his own parents? "I don't know... I just hope I'm doing the right thing." He was quiet for a while longer before he touched his fingers to his lips and touched them to each of his parent's headstones. Without another word, he stood and headed back to his car, feeling just the tiniest bit lighter.

~DW/SW~

"Hey, I'm gonna go meet Rachel now so will you lock up when you leave?" Dean asked as he stood in the doorway of his brother's room later that night.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, ah... does this look alright?" Sam asked as he stood in the middle of his room, fidgeting with the shirt he'd chosen.

Dean smirked and nodded. "You look fine. Have fun alright?" He asked, shaking his head a little. He was happy that Sam was putting an effort into what he looked like when he went out now. It wasn't a vain thought either. Dean just remembered the days when Sam would wear only baggy clothes and the fact that now, Sam wanted to look good... well, it was reassuring and Dean was always on the lookout for more signs that his brother was moving on. Taking pride in himself and in his appearance was one of the big ones, he figured.

"Thanks, you too." Sam smiled, feeling a little bit more confident after talking to his big brother. "What time do you think you'll be home?"

Dean laughed a little since normally he was the one posing that question. "Not sure, I'll call you later though." He promised.

Sam nodded, figuring that he would probably be home first anyways. Dean was much more the night-owl than he was.

"Bye kid," Dean smiled at Sam and then turned to walk down the hall.

~DW/SW~

About forty minutes later, Sam parked his truck by the curb outside of Kate's house and killed the engine. Tugging his jacket on since it was chilly out, Sam headed up the steps to ring the doorbell. He smiled, somewhat nervously, when Kate's younger sister was the one who answered the door.

"Hey Sam," The young girl smiled as she let him inside the ranch-style house. "Kate's in her room."

"Okay, thanks." Sam replied before he walked down the hall and stopped outside Kate's bedroom door. "Ah, Kate?" Sam knocked.

"You can come in," Kate called back through the closed wood. Silently, she shook her head at Sam's shy politeness. He always, always knocked even though she had told him that he didn't have to. If it was unlocked, then he could just come in.

Nodding to himself, Sam put his hand on the doorknob and then stepped into the room. A smile made its way onto his face when his eyes landed on Kate. She was dressed in a short sleeved black plaid button up shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. Underneath the button-up shirt was a white lace tank-top. Her jeans were tucked into the boots she was wearing and Sam had to admit, she looked really good in his opinion.

Turning around from her closet where she was trying to pick out a jacket, Kate smiled at Sam and walked over to give him a hug. "Hey," She greeted, leaning up for a kiss. Even with the boots on, Sam was still a couple of inches taller than her.

"Hey," Sam smiled back as he returned the kiss, still somewhat amazed at the fact that this was a kiss that he wanted to be a part of. _Maybe one day I'll want to be a part of something more_ he thought to himself. For a while there, he hadn't ever thought that would happen. "You ready to go?" He asked, trying to shake those thoughts from his head.

Kate nodded. "Yeah, just let me grab my jacket." Stepping back over to the closet, Kate grabbed her new leather jacket and slipped into it. "Now I am, let's go."

The two of them walked out of her room, hand in hand, into the living room where they ran into Kate's mom. "Oh, hi Sam," Kate's mom, Sheryl, smiled in a friendly way as she stood from where she had been seated on the couch, reading a book.

"Hi Mrs. Anderson," Sam smiled back, relieved that she had finally given up on trying to get him to call her by her first name. Sheryl, his former adoptive mother, the one who had sold him to Frank, had told him to do that and well that hadn't ended well, now had it? Sam guessed that despite the fact that both Dean and Dr. Boston thought he was improving, he was still being haunted by parts of his past. When he had first met Kate's mom, it had taken him a little while to be able to hear her name and not shiver or worry that somehow, someway his former foster parents had found him.

"Where are you two off to tonight?" She asked, watching the smile that was on her daughter's face. Sam was her daughter's first boyfriend and was easily Kate's biggest crush. Both she and her husband liked Sam, they thought he was a nice enough young man and both were extremely relieved to know that Sam wasn't trying to pressure their daughter into having sex or anything of that nature. Both were a little wary of his past though. It was obvious from the different times that they had met him and what Kate had told them that he was still living with the effects of it. They realized that was a very heavy thing to have to deal with, but especially at such a young age. Sheryl had had quite a few talks with her daughter about how those things might have an effect on her and Sam's relationship and that she had to be careful with how she handled things, not just with Sam really, but with any boy that she ended up dating.

"Sam's taking me to see that new movie!" Kate squealed excitedly as she cast a happy look at her boyfriend.

"She's been begging me for weeks," Sam responded in way of explanation as to why he was going to go see a movie that was supposedly the years biggest chick-flick.

"Well, it's nice of you to take her." Sheryl smiled knowing just how much her daughter had been looking forward to this.

Sam just smiled, starting to feel a little more nervous with the longer that they stood there.

"We should get going," Kate announced, letting go of Sam's hand and walking over to her mom to give her a hug and a kiss goodbye.

"Yeah, okay." Sam agreed.

"It was nice seeing you Sam," Sheryl waved at the shy teen as Kate and Sam headed towards the front door. "And Kate, remember to knock on your dad's and my door when you get home, alright?"

"I will." Kate promised.

"Bye Mrs. Anderson." Sam answered back and with that, Kate and Sam were on their way.

~DW/SW~

"So Linda thinks she'll be able to help us?" Sam asked once he and Dean were on their way to her office.

Dean nodded. "Yeah, she's not sure how or even if she will be able to help us though so ah, I don't want you to be disappointed if we aren't able to find anything." Dean answered, glancing over at his brother. A week had passed since he had spoken to Linda and he still didn't feel like that was enough time to get used to the idea of helping Sam find the very people who had turned their backs on him. _Nobody said he actually has to meet them_ Dean silently reminded himself, secure in that knowledge at least.

Sam nodded, swallowing as he grew a bit more nervous. He couldn't exactly explain why this was so important to him but it was and he hoped that they would be able to find at least something out. Sam was incredibly grateful that in the end, Dean had decided to allow him to look and that he was coming with him to talk to Linda. Dean's support meant a lot to him and a part of him was worried about just how much he might end up needing it. _If I am disappointed, it won't be anything new_ Sam thought to himself, knowing that he had gained enough practice in dealing with that over his life.

Pulling up outside of the social services building, Dean found a spot in the corner of the parking lot where at least one side of the Impala was protected. "Alright, let's go." He said as he stopped the engine and climbed out of the car. He was careful to keep his tone normal so that Sam might be at least somewhat relaxed before they went in there. Over the past four years since Dean had been granted legal guardianship of the kid, he had discovered just what kind of sacrifices parents really made for their children. _Not that these people understand that concept_ he thought rather bitterly to himself as images of who Sam's parents might be filled his head.

Walking through the small and cramped building, Sam tried to keep his eyes from wandering around too much. He had always hated it when people who were considered to be outsiders stared at him, making him feel like he was an exhibit at the local zoo instead of a kid who just wanted a safe place to sleep at night. Even at a young age and before he'd met Frank, he had been afraid of catching someone's eye since he was never totally sure what his role in that particular family would be. And wouldn't you know, he was back at that subject again. Sam was drawn out of his thoughts when he realized that they had come to a stop outside of a closed door.

Dean turned to smile at his younger brother reassuringly when he noticed the thoughtful look on Sam's face. "You ready kid?" He asked.

"Hunh, ah yeah," Sam answered quietly as he nodded. It felt a bit surreal to be back in this place with Dean beside him.

"Alright then," Dean nodded back before he knocked on the closed door that had Linda's name printed on the glass window. "Ah, it's Sam and me."

"Just a minute," Linda called through the closed door and a moment later, the door opened as a young teenage boy stepped out of the room. He had close-cropped blonde hair and his shoulders were hunched with his head bowed. Sam recognized the look of someone who was carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders while trying their damnedest not to show it. It was a look he had become quite familiar with over his years of going from family to family... after all, what family wanted a kid with those kinds of issues? _Dean did_ he silently reminded himself, a small smile working it's way onto his face as he thought about all of the issues and baggage that he had come with and the fact that those hadn't been a deterrent for Dean but it had almost seemed like they made him even more protective of him.

"What the hell are you looking at?" The teen snapped angrily when he caught Sam looking at him.

"Ah, nothing, sorry." Sam muttered before he followed Dean into the room feeling like his two worlds were crashing together and he was the only one who knew it.

~DW/SW~

"So, how did meeting with Linda go?" Dr. Boston asked the following Monday during her bi-weekly session with Sam. He had told her during their last session that he was curious about his birth parents and she was interested in knowing how that was unfolding.

"Good, I think. I mean, I realize that this will probably take a while to happen and stuff but I'm... I'm kind of excited." He admitted causing Dr. Boston to smile.

"Well, that's good to hear." She encouraged, glad to hear Sam sounding excited about something after the rough couple of weeks he had had.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, Dean and I talked and he finally agreed to it but he gave me some rules that he said I've gotta follow if we actually did this." Sam explained.

"What kind of rules?" Dr. Boston asked.

"He said that we've gotta do it together and that if he doesn't like where it's headed or whatever then we stop and I guess... I can agree with that. I mean, I'm not even sure that I want to meet them ya know? I just... I just want to find out if they're even alive, I guess." He continued. "I still don't think he really wants me to do it but I'm glad he said yes."

"I can understand why he might have some reservations about this, it's a pretty big deal." Dr. Boston agreed.

Sam nodded. "I know and truth be told, I didn't really ever think I'd want to find them. I mean, I knew they were out there and I thought about them and stuff but looking for 'em..." He drifted off knowing that before Dean, he had had other things on his mind to focus on rather than the what-if's of what had happened to his birth parents?

"What's different now?" She asked, wanting to know what had made Sam feel that he could afford to start this search.

"I've got Dean," Sam answered with a smile on his face. "I know he'll back me up." Dean made Sam feel secure in the fact that even if this did go south and he was disappointed with what he found out, he still had someone to go home to. Someone who would be right there with him. And if it did go well, then he had someone to share it with.

Dr. Boston smiled at hearing that. Having Sam tell her that he knew he had someone standing behind him, even if he knew that they didn't agree with him one-hundred percent was a big step forward. For kids like Sam, having someone who had your back and knowing that they did was sometimes a rarity.

"And now, I've got this project that's due in my English class at the end of the semester and it's based off family so we'll see how it goes." Sam shrugged since he still had no idea how he was going to write the paper.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out." She encouraged knowing that Sam had a lot of material to work with.

"We'll see," Sam didn't sound too convinced.

"Speaking of school, how did career day go?" She asked, remembering that Sam had been a little apprehensive about it since he was unsure of his choices.

Sam shrugged and relaxed back against the couch cushions. "It was okay... nothing too exciting." He noted.

"The jobs didn't appeal to you?" She asked curiously figuring that that might end up being a good thing. Either way, it was a step towards him figuring out what sounded like something he'd want to focus on and what he didn't want to do. And Sam thinking about his future was an incredibly awesome revelation for the teen to experience.

Sam shook his head no. "Not really... I don't know, I mean I like my job at the animal shelter but I don't think that's long-term, ya know?" He asked. Sam could picture himself doing that for a few years but as an actual job like the way Dean went to work... he wasn't so sure.

"Maybe your current job isn't but have you thought about working with animals in different respects?" Dr. Boston asked. Sam had always lit up whenever he had talked about Ace and it was obvious that this new job at the shelter was good for him. In subtle ways, he had seemed more confidant and not as apprehensive about new situations which was a major improvement. Continuing down a similar path seemed like a good possibility.

"Like what?" Sam asked curiously.

"Well, they have animal police officers who work to ensure that all of the animals in the county are being properly taken care of or you could be a vet. If it's something that appeals to you, you should look into it... and that goes for anything you find interesting." Dr. Boston explained but not wanting to push Sam in any one direction.

Sam nodded thoughtfully as he remembered the papers for the local community college that he had at home and it made him wonder if they offered anything along those lines. "I think... I think I will look into it, thanks." He smiled gratefully.

"No problem Sam." Doctor Boston smiled back at her client. "I'm glad to hear that you've had a good couple of weeks."

"Me too." Sam agreed before he looked at the clock and realized that their session was over. "Guess I should get going." He said as he stood from the couch.

Dr. Boston nodded. "Keep up the good work Sam. I'll see you in a few weeks." She smiled, this was one of the best parts of her job. She loved it when she was able to watch a client who had come to her when they were in a dark place and she got to watch them grow and mature and find a different place, a better place in their lives.

"Yeah, thanks Dr. B." Sam smiled and hesitated before he left, silently thanking her for more than just the job options. Besides his brother, Doctor Boston was Sam's closest confidant... the only other person he felt he could tell all of his secrets too and it would be okay. "Have a good week." He added before he walked out of the office, his head held just a little bit higher than when he had walked in.

* * *

Hey! So, how was the chapter? Like I said, I hope it all made sense. I know Sam's had a low self-esteem and such for a while and he still will (let's face it, he hasn't worked out all of his issues yet) but I think that it's about time where he kind of starts to get hopeful and excited and starts thinking of things that he actually does want to do and what he does want for his future... hopefully ya'll will agree with me? Anyways, thanks again for reading! I hope you'll leave a review and I'll try to update ASAP. :)


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